The United States should play a stronger role to address exacerbating situation in South Asia in the wake of India’s annexation of Kashmir and unprecedented repression of the people, Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington argues.
“The U.S. could do and the U.S. must do more to help defuse this situation and to perhaps inject some more sanity on the Indian side,” Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan said after New Delhi made a move to make Kashmir part of India despite the fact that it is a UN-recognized disputed territory.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s unilateral move to upstage the status quo has not only hurt the people of Jammu and Kashmir and upset Pakistan, a party to the seven-decades old dispute. Pakistan and India control parts of Kashmir.
Photo Credit: Umar John/NEXT TV
Modi’s ultranationalist BJP ruling party – which has faced international criticism for treatment of Indian minorities – had promised to do away special constitutional status for Kashmir in its manifesto. Modi took the step months after beginning his second term as prime minister. The move is being seen as an attempt to merge Kashmiris into Indian population dominated by Hindus and also raises the chances of changing demography of Muslim-dominated Kashmir.
President Donald Trump offered to mediate between India and Pakistan, the two nuclear powers, during Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit for White House parleys on July 22.
Photo: Screenshot/VOA YouTube Video (File photo)
Since then the State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus has said the U.S. concerned over detentions in Kashmir but has also noted that India has termed the changing the status of Kashmir under its control as an internal matter. The State Department says Washington has not changed its policy toward Kashmir and referring to close ties with both says that the U.S. is “incredibly engaged in southeast Asia.
Pakistan is helping the Trump Administration achieve peace in Afghanistan while India is often described as a natural partner in the region.
In Washington, Ambassador Khan’s remarks came during an interview with Bloomberg News editors and reporters.
The diplomat said Islamabad “would expect that from all our friends. It really is a question of principle.”
Kashmir Map by CIA being used via Wikimedia Commons
“Frankly, the U.S. could have made or should have made a stronger statement. As a major proponent of human rights, as the world’s leading democracy and also as the preeminent power today in the world, I think the kind of repression that we are seeing is something that warrants a strong response from the United States.”
The ambassador noted that PM Imran Khan “really hit it off very well” with President Donald Trump during his visit last month.
