Pakistani school girls shout slogans during a protest after the Indian government removed the special constitutional semi-autonomous status granted to the region of Kashmir, which both India and Pakistan claim, in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir, Aug 5, 2019. [Photo/IC]

Empty classrooms as some schools reopen in India-controlled Kashmir

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD-US President Donald Trump spoke with the leaders of India and Pakistan on Monday, discussing prospects for improved trade ties with Washington and stressing the need to reduce tensions over Kashmir between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

"Spoke to my two good friends, Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi of India, and Prime Minister (Imran) Khan of Pakistan, regarding Trade, Strategic Partnerships and, most importantly, for India and Pakistan to work toward reducing tensions in Kashmir. A tough situation, but good conversations!" Trump said in a Twitter post.

Relations between Islamabad and New Delhi, already hostile, have been further strained over India's decision this month to revoke the special status of its portion of the Kashmir region that both countries claim. Pakistan reacted with fury, cutting transport and trade links and expelling India's ambassador in retaliation.

Modi told Trump that he was hopeful that India's commerce minister and the US trade representative would meet again to discuss bilateral trade, the Indian government said in a statement.

Washington confirmed that Trump and Modi had spoken about trade.

"The two leaders further discussed how they will continue to strengthen United States-India economic ties through increased trade, and they look forward to meeting again soon," the White House said. Trump also stressed during the call the need to lower tensions between India and Pakistan, it said.

The White House said in a statement that Trump also had spoken with Pakistani Prime Minister Khan to "discuss the need to reduce tensions and moderate rhetoric" with India over the situation in Kashmir.

"The president reaffirmed the need to avoid escalation of the situation and urged restraint on both sides," the White House said in a statement, adding that Trump and Khan also agreed to work together to strengthen trade and economic ties.

Khan, in his second conversation with Trump in three days on Kashmir issue, "expressed serious concern over a humanitarian crisis" in the region and hoped that Washington "would play its role in resolving the crisis", Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said.

Khan also asked Trump to talk to Modi about ways to lower tensions, Qureshi said.

Pakistan wants a United Nations observer mission to be "dispatched forthwith" to India-controlled Kashmir and for the curfew there to be "lifted immediately", Khan added.

Some schools in India-controlled Kashmir reopened on Monday but were largely empty following weekend clashes in the city of Srinagar, two weeks after India removed the region's autonomy and imposed a lockdown.

The authorities said they were reopening 190 primary schools in the city, yet few children could be seen at half a dozen locations visited by Agence France-Presse.

New Delhi on Aug 5 ended the special constitutional status of Muslim-majority India-controlled Kashmir, where a 30-year-old unrest against Indian rule has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians.

Hours before its move, India curtailed movement and shut down phones and the internet, bringing in tens of thousands of troops to turn the main city of Srinagar into a fortress.

Nearly 120,000 extra soldiers have been deployed, a security source said, joining around 500,000 already in the northern Himalayan region divided with Pakistan since 1947.

Around 20 percent of landlines were working on Monday, an AFP reporter said. But mobile phones and the internet remained severed.