Law and order measures in Kashmir were taken as precaution and there is already a sense of calm and normalcy, the External Affairs Ministry said on Friday.
Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said the measures taken by Pakistan after India ended the special status for Kashmir were unilateral.
“Certain precautionary measures have been taken by concerned authorities to maintain law and order. Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi in his address yesterday [Thursday] mentioned that the situation will gradually return to normal and the inconvenience experienced by people in Jammu and Kashmir is very temporary in nature. We already see a sense of calm and normalcy,” said Mr. Kumar, emphasising that food supply, operation of hospitals, newspaper circulation remains undisturbed in the state. The statement of the Indian government came after the human rights organisation Amnesty International had expressed concern over additional deployment of forces and an unprecedented communication blockade that cut off Kashmir from the rest of India.
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This was accompanied by the statement from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres who urged both countries for restraint. The spokesperson noted that Pakistan had begun an international campaign on Kashmir and accused it of trying to portray an alarmist situation.
Following, the Indian legislative action on Kashmir, Pakistan has frozen trade with India and stopped train services. Islamabad has also introduced some changes in the access of the airspace of Pakistan. The MEA Spokesperson said the decision on Kashmir was part of India’s sovereign jurisdiction and Pakistan’s responses are unilateral that India regrets.
“Samjhauta Express has been stopped. It was an unilateral decision, we never asked for the stoppage and we regret the decision by Pakistan government to stop this link between the two countries which is unfortunate,” said Mr Kumar.
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He also declared that India has reached out to several countries and multilateral organisations to explain India’s position in Kashmir and argued that India does not consider that the decision on Kashmir was an internal affair of India and Pakistan’s unilateral actions on connectivity, trade and other bilateral ties should not be linked with it.
Sources hinted that India’s measured tone to Pakistan’s response on the Kashmir issue shows that New Delhi does not desire an escalation in bilateral tension and that India hopes to find appreciation of Islamabad regarding its decision to end special status on Kashmir.