Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday he was ready to engage in peace talks with India, days after the nuclear-armed neighbours ended their worst military conflict in nearly three decades.

India also has a long-standing policy of refusing to allow foreign mediation when it comes to the status of Muslim-majority Kashmir - a disputed region claimed by both India and Pakistan in its entirety - which has been at the center of the latest conflict with Pakistan and which India regards as a strictly internal matter.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that hostilities between Pakistan and India were settled, after he urged the two countries to focus on trade instead of war. He told U.S. troops at a base in Qatar during a Gulf tour that Pakistan and India were happy with that.