A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to US President Donald Trump, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had a telephonic conversation with US Secretary of Defence, Dr Mark T Esper on Tuesday evening and spoke about the issue cross-border terrorism affecting India.

A statement of the Ministry of Defence said Rajnath Singh ‘appreciated US support’ for India’s effort to maintain peace and stability in the region. It said : “US Secretary of Defence appreciated India’s position that the recent developments in Jammu & Kashmir are an internal matter of India.”

Rajnath Singh had told his counterpart “issues relating to Article 370 are an internal matter of India which are aimed at improving growth and economic development, democracy and prosperity for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.”

Both the Ministers expressed happiness at the significant progress in bilateral defence cooperation and reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen and deepen the relations further. They exchanged views on a range of issues related to military-to-military cooperation, defence policy, research and development, defence trade, technology and industrial cooperation.