Modi-Trump call

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's firm rejection of US President Donald Trump's repeated offers to mediate between India and Pakistan is not just a reiteration of India's longstanding policy, it is a clear signal to the world that New Delhi will brook no ambiguity about its sovereignty and its red lines.

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Ever since the signing of the 1972 Simla Agreement, India has maintained that the question of Jammu and Kashmir is a bilateral matter between India and Pakistan, to be resolved only through direct dialogue, if and when conditions permit. This principle is rooted not just in diplomatic consistency but also in bitter experience. Each time India has attempted talks with Islamabad, the overture has been followed, sooner or later, by a terror attack. This has made New Delhi wary of talking to Pakistan. In the past, when the two countries were closer to a breakthrough in their negotiations for example during the 2003-07 dialogue between the then prime minister Manmohan Singh and the then Pakistani counterpart Parvez Musharraf - it is immedia