US President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday once again reiterated his offer to “help” on the Kashmir issue, saying the US was “watching and closely following” the developments in the Valley, while he met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Trump made the statement ahead of talks with “a very good friend” PM Imran Khan on the sidelines of the annual WEF in Switzerland.

Addressing the media with Khan by his side, Trump said,”We are talking about Kashmir and in relation to what is going on with Pakistan and India and if we can help — we certainly will be helping. We’ve been following that and watching it very very closely.”

PM Khan too said that Kashmir is “a big issue”. While he further said, “And, of course, we always hope that the US will play its part in resolving it because no other country can.”

Trump is likely to visit India in the last week of February. Asked if he would also go to Pakistan while visiting India, President Trump said, “We are visiting right now, so we won’t really have to. But I wanted to say hello for both a relationship standpoint… we have had a great relationship”.

Earlier too, on many occasions Trump had offered to mediate in the Kashmir issue, the White House in a statement in August last year said that Donald Trump is “ready to assist” India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue if both sides ask for it, while underlining that the US President is “very focused” on the situation in the Valley in view of its “broader implications”.

US President Trump had once again reiterated his offer to mediate in the Kashmir issue in September, which India considers as its “internal matter”.

Describing himself as an “extremely good arbitrator”, Trump had said that he was ready to mediate between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue if both sides agree on that.Trump made the remarks during his meeting with Pakistan

Prime Minister Imran Khan on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session in New York, a day after joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi on stage during the ‘Howdy, Modi!’ event in Houston.

“I would be willing to help if both wanted. If both Pakistan, let’s say, and India wanted me to do that, I am ready, willing, and able. It’s a complex issue,” Trump had said. India had categorically refuted the statement then.

Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after New Delhi abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution to withdraw Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories on August 5, 1919.

India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was an internal matter and also advised Pakistan to accept the reality.