The Indian government on Friday referring to a telephonic conversation between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and US President-elect Donald Trump said it looked forward to Trump helping Pakistan "address the most outstanding of its outstanding issues", Times of India reported.
Indian Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the Indian government was aware of reports of the phone call and said, "We look forward to the President-elect helping Pakistan address the most outstanding of its outstanding issues ─ terrorism."
During a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Nawaz on Wednesday Trump said he is willing to play any role that Pakistan wants to find solutions to outstanding problems.
The text of the conversation released by government's Press Information Department (PID) shows that during the conversation Trump also praised Nawaz and expressed his desire to meet the prime minister soon.
The Trump transition team said that Prime Minister Nawaz and Trump had a "productive conversation" that lacked what they referred to as the "flowery language" present in the Pakistan version of the talk.
“President-elect Trump and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif spoke… had a productive conversation about how the United States and Pakistan will have a strong working relationship in the future,” said the Trump transition team in a rare readout of his conversation with a foreign leader.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stepped up a drive to isolate Pakistan diplomatically after the Uri army base attack in September in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed. Hours after the attack occurred, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh termed Pakistan a 'terrorist state' and accused Pakistan of involvement.
In October, the White House shut down a petition mostly signed by US citizens of Indian origin seeking to designate Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism. Days after the news made headlines, the US assured Pakistan that it does not want to declare it a state sponsor of terrorism and desires to work with Islamabad “as cooperatively as we can” to eliminate terrorist safe havens from the South Asian region.
The election of Donald Trump as US president, however, has Pakistanis wary that he may accelerate what they see as a shift in American policy to favour India.
To many Pakistanis, Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric ─ he once proposed banning Muslims entering the United States ─ and business ties to India are signs that his administration could shift further toward New Delhi.
Trump has yet to lay out a detailed policy for South Asia, although he recently offered to mediate between India and Pakistan regarding the Kashmir dispute.
