US President Donald Trump on Monday dialled Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan after speaking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and asked him to tone down the rhetoric against India and avoid escalating tensions over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

“President Donald J. Trump spoke by telephone with Prime Minister Imran Khan today to discuss the need to reduce tensions and moderate rhetoric with India over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. The President reaffirmed the need to avoid escalation of the situation, and urged restraint on both sides," said a read-out from the White House.

The plain-speak by Trump with Khan is significant after Modi in a 30-minute telephonic conversation told Trump that “extreme rhetoric" of certain South Asian leaders, inciting violence against India is not helping the cause of regional peace.

Following his chat with the two South Asian neighbours, Trump in a tweet put both countries on the same pedestal: “Spoke to my two good friends, Prime Minister Modi of India, and Prime Minister Khan of Pakistan, regarding trade, strategic partnerships and, most importantly, for India and Pakistan to work towards reducing tensions in Kashmir. A tough situation, but good conversations!"

Trump has over the last one week occupied centre stage in the latest India-Pakistan flare-up over Kashmir seeking to pacify the nuclear-armed neighbours.

This is the second time in less than a week that Trump has spoken to Khan. Pakistan’s last-ditch attempt to draw the US to its side ahead of a UN Security Council meeting failed on Friday when after speaking to Khan, Trump said India and Pakistan should sort out the issue bilaterally. The US is learnt to have endorsed India’s position in the closed-door meeting of the Security Council that India’s move to fully integrate Kashmir with rest of the country is an internal matter. Despite pressure from China, the Security Council refused to issue a statement on the matter.

T.C.A. Raghavan, former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, said Trump’s tweet should not be seen as an attempt to mediate in the Kashmir matter. “India and Pakistan have a long history of dealing with Kashmir and other issues bilaterally. The US is well aware of it. This is a traditional US posture because they see both India and Pakistan as nuclear-armed states. So, they have the view that they need to play a role in reducing tensions. Whether that role is effective or not is a different matter," he added.

Raghavan said the days of India-Pakistan hyphenation are over. “The hyphenation belongs to an older generation. Now the regional positions of both countries have superseded that question," he added.

Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said Trump advising both sides to reduce tensions is not a formulation that India would appreciate. “Because from our point of view, the tensions are being created by Pakistan because changing the constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir has nothing to do with the Line of Control. If there is tension, it is because of Pakistan’s reaction," he added.

However, he agreed with Raghavan that the statements from Trump are pure diplomacy where the US is feeling concerned because it has to withdraw troops from Afghanistan and needs Pakistan’s help to do that.

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