The External Affairs Minister of India, S Jaishankar has cancelled his meeting with a group of the United States lawmakers following their refusal to exclude anti-India Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal from the delegation that was scheduled to meet the top Indian diplomat. Jaishankar has rubbished Jayapal’s report saying it had an unfair characterisation of the situation in Kashmir.
EAM S Jaishankar on reports that India cancelled meeting with US Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal over her report on Kashmir: Don’t think it(report) is fair understanding of situation in J&K or fair characterization of what Govt of India is doing. I have no interest in meeting her. pic.twitter.com/EkWFZcR1nr
— ANI (@ANI) December 20, 2019
Accusing Jayapal of having a prejudicial view on Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370, Jaishankar said that he had no interest in meeting her. “Don’t think her report has a fair understanding of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir or fair characterisation of what the Government of India is doing. I have no interest in meeting her,” External Affairs Minister revealed after speculations of cancellation of the meeting came forth.
On his visit to Washington this week, MEA Jaishankar was to meet the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Eliot L Engel, the committee’s top Republican, Rep. Michael McCaul and others, including Rep. Pramila Jayapal.
US media had reported that Indian MEA’s office had asked the committee to drop Jaypal from the scheduled meeting. When the committee did not agree, the meeting was called off.
Jayapal has been trumpeting Pakistani line on the situation in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Jayapal has been critical of India’s move to abrogate Article 370 and subsequent restrictions imposed in the state. In the first week of December 2019, Jayapal had moved a Congressional resolution urging India to end the restrictions on communications in Jammu and Kashmir as soon as possible. However, the Indian-American community felt betrayed by Jayapal’s move, terming it politically motivated.
MEA Jaishankar is in the USA for the 2+2 summit. The Congresswoman Jaypal has reacted to MEA Jaishankar’s statement, complaining that it was ‘deeply disturbing’ for her. She also claimed that India does not want to listen to any dissent, not explaining why exactly a sovereign nation should listen to foreign ‘dissent’ over internal governance matters.
The cancellation of this meeting was deeply disturbing.
It only furthers the idea that the Indian government isn’t willing to listen to any dissent at all. https://t.co/EMeqIr05VJ
— Rep. Pramila Jayapal (@RepJayapal) December 19, 2019
Ever since India repealed Article 370, Pakistan has been incessantly concocting stories of human rights violations and state-sponsored excesses to draw international attention towards India’s internal matter in order to force India to roll back its decision apropos Kashmir.
On August 4, 2019, the Indian government hollowed out the archaic Article 370 that impeded the growth and true unification of Jammu and Kashmir with the Indian union. After the abrogation of Article 370, communication restrictions were imposed in certain sensitive areas of the state to curb misinformation, panic and fake news among people. The restrictions were gradually relaxed from some places based on the intelligence inputs and threats assessed by the on-ground agencies.
