US President Donald Trump has  said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked him to mediate on the decades-long Kashmir dispute with Pakistan, a claim rejected by New Delhi.

“He actually said, ‘Would you like to be a mediator or arbitrator?’ I said, ‘Where?’ He said, ‘Kashmir.’ Because this has been going on for many, many years,” Trump said at the White House, where he was hosting Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday.

“If I can help, I would love to be a mediator,” the US president said, a statement that signalled a shift in long-standing US policy that the Kashmir issue must be solved bilaterally.

In response, Khan, who is on his first trip to the US as prime minister, told Trump he will have “the prayers a billion people” in the Indian subcontinent if he is able to resolve the Kashmir issue.

But India was quick to respond, rejecting the US offer of mediation and denying Modi had asked for it.