Mediation question

Mediation question

By making Pakistan crack down on terror, Washington can aid India-Pakistan peace process.
US envoy to UN Nikki Haley's assertion that the Donald Trump administration is open to playing a proactive role in de-escalating tensions between India and Pakistan goes against the position of previous US administrations, that had preferred to adopt a hands-free approach to India-Pakistan issues. There are several issues here that need to be carefully considered.
First, there is a consensus that Indian and US interests today are increasingly converging. This is especially true in the area of fighting terrorism. Trump himself has repeatedly emphasised his desire to vociferously go after the Islamic State (IS) terror group. Given that Pakistan has long been a hotbed of Islamist terrorist outfits, there's a danger that it might become an IS outpost in the near future. In that sense, New Delhi and Washington are veering to the same position on terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
It's in both Washington's and New Delhi's interest for the Trump administration to get Islamabad to crack down on terrorism.
And since Pakistan-based terror is intrinsically linked to the Kashmir issue, US intervention against terrorism will certainly aid India's case here. It's also a fact that New Delhi's allergy to any kind of US mediation in India-Pakistan issues is coloured by the legacy of the Cold War when Islamabad was seen to be in Washington's camp, as well as the 1948 UN resolution recommending a plebiscite in Kashmir.However, the scenario has changed considerably today with the Trump administration even ready to take action to counter China's coddling of Pakistan-based terrorists.
Despite such strategic convergence, New Delhi is right in rejecting direct US mediation in India-Pakistan issues as it needs to retain its freedom to manoeuvre. But it can not only live with international pressure on Pakistan on terror, that in fact is the only way Islamabad (and Rawalpindi) can be persuaded to drop its support of terror groups. After all, when President Bill Clinton addressed the Pakistani people live on television after the Kargil war to proclaim south Asia's borders cannot be redrawn with blood, that is a form of `mediation' which New Delhi can welcome. If Washington is successful in getting Islamabad to drop its strategy of covert warfare, it will create the right atmosphere for New Delhi and Islamabad to bilaterally resolve all outstanding issues. Perhaps the right term is not so much `mediator' but ‘facilitator’.