Kashmir a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan, Obama restates US view

NEW YORK: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama have agreed that the Kashmir issue is a bilateral one which should be resolved through discussions between India and Pakistan.
Kashmir and Pakistan-sponsored terrorism across the border came up when the Indian and American leaders met here on the sidelines of the ongoing UN General Assembly session yesterday.
“There was a broad acknowledgement that this (the Kashmir one) is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan.
”People were happy for India and Pakistan to resolve it between themselves,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup told reporters.
The spokesperson briefed on Mr Modi’s meetings with Mr Obama as well as UK Prime Minister David Cameron and  President Francois Hollande of France.
“There was a discussion on Pakistan in one of the meetings in the context of terrorism. Broadly the idea was if terrorism has to be fought then all countries have to be on the same page. You can’t have some countries talking of good and bad terrorists,” Mr Swarup said.
Asked why it was taking such a long time in defining terror by the UN, he said, “Some, in particular, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation lobby wants to include so-called freedom fighters for instance in the definition of terrorism.”
Mr  Swarup added, “Some compromise formulations have been put forward but they have not yet been agreed. There was no discussion on the terror group as such, but Mr Modi himself said that terrorism has to be fought collectively and globally.” (AGENCIES)

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