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Former Indian diplomat Mahesh Sachdev has questioned the actions of US President Donald Trump in claiming his role towards the cessation of hostilities between India and Pakistan. He hinted that the claims might come from a place of personal motives and said that such remarks by the President of a country do not come in a sensitive frame.
He made the remarks while speaking to ANI on Wednesday. On being asked about Donald Trump's claims on brokering a peace-deal between India and Pakistan, Sachdev said, "It's indeed strange that US President Donald Trump is continuously making such statements since ceasefire was put into place. There seems to be some alacrity in his statements." He added, "His motives are not difficult to guess. They range from aspiring to get a Nobel Peace Prize to appealing to his base of middle-class Americans, waiting for Trump to deliver the world to them and make America great again." The former envoy hailed India's response towards the claims by the US President and said, "We have acted wisely by largely ignoring such boastful claims. We have not reacted at President's level but the official spokesperson has set the record straight yesterday". He further noted, "India has reiterated its long held view that the Shimla agreement binds the two sides- India and Pakistan to negotiate all their disputes including those of Kashmir, bilaterally, through peaceful means. This now has been refocussed that the only thing about Pakistan is left is how to return PoJK back to India." On being asked whether such remarks would have an impact on the future of ties between India and the US, Sachdev added, "With regard to impact on India's ties with the United States, it would remain to be seen whether there would be any particular long-term impact. We must however state here that India takes a long-term view of the bilateral ties and such proclivities by a head of state do not augur well to create a long-term stable view of such a country. If the president of such a country is transactional in his approach, is very keen to take credit, we are riding roughshod over India's own long held policies, then it does not speak of a sensitive frame to have bilateral ties on mutual respect basis and reliability of such a country in a similar situation would also come under question mark." (ANI)
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