Referring to the ongoing tension between India and Pakistan, United States President Donald Trump on Thursday said there was “reasonably attractive news” coming from the two countries and that peace is “probably going to be happening”.
Trump was addressing reporters on Thursday after his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam ended. “We have, I think, reasonably attractive news coming from Pakistan and India,” he said at the press conference. “We have been going at it and we have been involved in trying to have them stop….we have some reasonably decent news and I think it is going to end…it has been going on for a long time.”
Hinting at a de-escalation between the two neighbouring countries, Trump said peace is “probably going to be happening”, according to The Guardian.
Trump’s statement comes a day after India and Pakistan claimed that they had shot down each others’ fighter jets, a day after the Indian Air Force had struck a Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. India said Pakistan had attempted to target military installations in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday and confirmed a pilot of its Air Force was in custody of the Pakistani armed forces.
The air strikes came in the aftermath of the suicide attack carried out by terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on February 14, killing 40 Indian security personnel. Days after the attack, Trump had described the incident as a “horrible situation”.
On Wednesday, the US Pentagon asked India and Pakistan to avoid further military action and focus on de-escalating tensions. A spokesperson of the Department of State said the US has asked Pakistan to abide by its United Nations Security Council commitments to deny terrorists a haven and block their access to funds.
