Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump reportedly suggested seeking New Delhi's "help" on Wednesday in dealing with a "semi-unstable" Pakistan. However, just a few days ago, the American billionaire was criticised for mocking the Indian accent while mocking a call centre employee to suggest India was taking away jobs from the U.S.
The presidential hopeful responded to a question on Pakistan during a town hall in Indianapolis on Wednesday, stating that Pakistan's nuclear weapons were a "real problem" and suggested that India could "help," according to the Press Trust of India.
"The problem with Pakistan is, they have nuclear weapons -- which is a real problem...And it's not only one country, you have nine countries right now with nuclear weapons...But Pakistan is semi-unstable," Trump said.
"If you look at India and some of the others, maybe they'll be helping us out, because we're going to look at it," he said. Trump's remarks came amid some U.S. lawmakers raising concerns over the Obama administration's decision to sell eight F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.
Last week, Trump was criticised for mocking an Indian call centre worker, during a rally in Delaware, while hinting at the outsourcing of jobs. While he called India "a great place" during his remarks, he was slammed for mocking Indians.
He had also ruffled feathers in India earlier when he suggested he would scrap the H-1B visa programme if he came to power. India's Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian had called his statements on doing away with the workers visas "very worrying," according to Mint.
The real-estate tycoon is known to make controversial and often harsh statements during his speeches and rallies as he campaigns under his slogan "Make America Great Again." He is currently leading in the Republican presidential nomination race, having raked up five more state primaries this week.