Weeks after India ended the special status for Jammu & Kashmir and reorganised it into two Union Territories, attention on the issue persists in Washington, with many members of the U.S. Congress entering the fray.
“I am excited to see so many members joining us in calling attention to what is happening in Kashmir. Please continue to call your members and ask them to speak up. We expect openness from India,” Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, tweeted, referring to a comment from Ted Lieu, a California Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Earlier in the week, Mr. Lieu had tweeted that he had heard from his constituents that they were unable to reach their families in Kashmir.
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“Democracies like India should not be engaging in a communications blackout that has lasted over three weeks. We need de-escalation, not the hiding of what’s happening,” Mr. Lieu had said on Twitter, referring to a tweet from Representative Don Boyer, a Virginia Democrat.
The number of lawmakers commenting on Kashmir could possibly increase when the Congress, which is in recess, reconvenes in September.
The tweets come weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due in New York for the 74th session of the General Assembly (UNGA) and Houston for a diaspora interaction.
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Both Mr. Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump in recent weeks, including, as per official statements, on the situation in Kashmir (following India’s move on the special status). The latest of those interactions was last Monday when Mr. Modi and Mr. Trump met in Biarritz, France, on the side lines of the G7 summit.
Imran Khan’s Op-Ed
On Friday, Pakistan PM Imran Khan wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Times saying, “If the world does nothing to stop the Indian assault on Kashmir and its people, there will be consequences for the whole world as two nuclear-armed States get ever closer to a direct military confrontation.” He spoke about Mr. Modi’s political ideology and background, the RSS and former RSS leader M.S. Golwalkar’s admiration for Hitler and Mussolini.
Mr. Khan wrote that the February 14 Pulwama attack, which sparked weeks of tension between the two countries, was carried out by a “young Kashmiri man” but did not say the latter had joined the ranks of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, a Pakistan-based terror group that claimed responsibility for it.
Apart from the conversations at the highest level, India has been conducting its own public relations operations to explain the legal changes in Kashmir, stressing that it is an internal matter done to enhance good governance and socio-economic development. It is learnt that officials met a number of U.S. lawmakers to address their concerns after the legislative changes. There have also been televised appearances.
“We have taken this decision because we have found that over 70 years, the level of development in the State has been hampered by the so-called ‘special status’ that the State enjoys, which in any case was a temporary provision…,” Ambassador to the U.S. Harsh Vardhan Shringla had told Fox News earlier in August.