United States President Donald Trump on Monday said that his country has a very good relationship with Pakistan and that Washington is working with Islamabad in a very positive way.
“Since taking office, my administration is working in a very positive way with Pakistan,” Trump said while addressing the Namaste Trump event in Ahmedabad alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian Express reported. “Our relationship with Pakistan is a very good one. Thanks to these efforts we are beginning to see signs of big progress with Pakistan and we are hopeful for reduced tensions, greater stability and the future of harmony for all of the nations of South Asia,” he added.
Trump received a red-carpet welcome in India, addressing a huge rally at a mega cricket stadium on a maiden official visit to India that is big on photo opportunities but likely short on substance.
Trade tensions have grown between the US and India, the world’s fifth-biggest economy, as Trump’s ‘America First’ drive collides with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s protectionist ‘Make in India’ mantra.
While sharing concerns about China and deepening their defence ties, India has bristled at Trump’s offer to mediate in the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan, and at unease in Washington over a citizenship law criticised as anti-Muslim.
Visiting Modi’s home state of Gujarat, Trump and First Lady Melania visited Mahatma Gandhi’s ashram, where Modi gifted him a ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ three wise monkeys statue.
Later Trump and Melania – dressed in an off-white jump suit and Indian sash alongside her husband in his usual suit and tie – flew to the Taj Mahal for sunset before the main official talks on Tuesday.
Parts of the white marble ‘jewel of Muslim art’, according to UNESCO, were given a mud-pack facial to remove stains, while efforts were made to lessen the stench of the adjacent river.
Behind the platitudes and blossoming bromance between the two leaders lies a fraught relationship worsened by the trade protectionism of both governments. Trump has called India the ‘tariff king’, and said before his visit that Asia’s third-largest economy had been ‘hitting us very, very hard for many, many years’.
Rather than a wide-ranging trade deal, reports said Trump and Modi may instead sign smaller agreements covering products such as Harley-Davidson motorcycles and US dairy products. “We are in the early stages of discussions for an incredible trade agreement,” Trump told the rally, calling Modi a ‘very tough negotiator’.
The two men were expected to sign a number of defence deals during the visit, and to discuss the supply of six nuclear reactors.
President Donald Trump’s first official visit to India is likely to be more about pomp and ceremony than concrete agreements
In Washington, India has faced criticism over its clampdown in Indian-held Kashmir, and the recently passed citizenship law that has led to ongoing protests across the nation, including in New Delhi on Sunday and Monday.
A senior US administration official told reporters Trump would raise concerns about religious freedom in the Hindu-majority nation during the trip, “which is extremely important to this administration”.
Trump also ridiculed Modi last year for ‘constantly telling me he built a library in Afghanistan’. “That’s like five hours of what we spend… And we are supposed to say, ‘oh, thank you for the library’,” Trump said. “I don’t know who is using it.”
Trump in his address in Ahmedabad, India, on Monday reiterated future direction of global politics in which India plays role of its key ally in the Indo-Pacific region. Heaps of praise were showered by Trump on the Indian democracy and its fair play and role of world two biggest democracies in regional and global peace. However, there was not a single word by Trump on India’s unilateral annexation of Kashmir and denial of basic rights of eight million Kashmiris under Indian occupation. And the same is true for India’s new citizenship laws that targets the Muslim minority.
