Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi skipped out on attending an Asean summit in Malaysia to avoid broaching the issue of Pakistan in a possible meeting with United States President Donald Trump, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
Modi had backtracked from his proposed visit to Malaysia over the weekend to attend an Asean summit and opted to join the discussions “virtually” instead. The opposition Congress party had blamed the change of plan on Modi’s fear of meeting Trump.
The annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a 10-nation grouping, as well as associated meetings, was held from Oct 26 to 28 in Kuala Lumpur.
“Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stayed away from a regional leaders summit in Malaysia this week to avoid meeting US President Donald Trump and having a possible discussion about Pakistan,” people familiar with the matter said.
“Officials in the government were apprehensive that Trump would repeat his claim that he mediated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after a four-day armed conflict in May, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private,” Bloomberg reported about the alleged actual reason behind the skipping out on the summit.
It added that Modi was campaigning for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the crucial Bihar election and he “didn’t want to risk a meeting with Trump that could end up being embarrassing for the prime minister, the people said.
“Modi is the main face of his party’s campaign in Bihar state and any comments by Trump, especially regarding Pakistan, could be used by the prime minister’s rivals against him and damage his party’s chances at the polls, they said.”
Bloomberg similarly reported in August that Modi had turned down an invitation from Trump to visit the White House over concern that he would set up a meeting with Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir.
Relations between Washington and New Delhi plummeted in August after Trump raised tariffs to 50 per cent, with US officials accusing India of fueling Russia’s war in Ukraine by buying Moscow’s discounted oil. Also fueling the tensions has been Trump’s insistence of ending the May conflict between Pakistan and India — something that New Delhi adamantly refuses still.
Earlier today, Trump again stated that seven aircraft were shot down during the brief military escalation between Pakistan and India in May.
Tensions between Pakistan and India escalated sharply in early May after an attack in Indian-occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam prompted New Delhi to launch “Operation Sindoor” which targeted sites inside Pakistan and causing civilian casualties.
India blamed Pakistan without presenting evidence, further inflaming hostilities between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Pakistan later launched a retaliatory operation called “Bunyanum Marsoos”, leading to heavy artillery and drone exchanges before a US-led push helped broker a ceasefire.
