NEW DELHI, AUG 07 (DNA) – Reports emanating from Indian media revealed that before scraping away the special constitutional status of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IoK), the External Affairs Minister of India, S Jaishankar, had apprised the US government, specifically US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, of the agendas of the Modi-led government with regards to the occupied Himalayan territory.On Monday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, the Minister of Home Affairs of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government scraped away Article 370 from the Indian Constitution, which provided a special constitutional status to Jammu & Kashmir.
sources said, within the Indian governments, who divulged that the US government was fully aware of the objectives of the Modi-led government with regards to Indian occupied Kashmir.
The report revealed that the Modi-led government had briefed the US National Security Advisor John Bolton with regards to the plans to abolish Article 370 back in February, following the Pulwama attack.
In February, two days after the Pulwama attack, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had phoned his American counterpart John Bolton and told him about the Modi government’s plans to do away with the ‘special status’ for Jammu and Kashmir.”
However, the sources within the Indian government noted that the decision to divide the occupied Himalayan territory into two separate federally administered territories was taken later.
Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar had met with US Secretary of State on the sidelines of the Foreign Minister’s Meeting of the Ninth East Asia Summit, held in Bangkok on 1st August.
During this meeting, Jaishankar informed Pompeo that New Delhi does not seek US mediation in the Kashmir dispute, and any discussion on the issue of Kashmir, “if at all warranted,” will take place with Pakistan unilaterally.
The sources reveal that when it came to Washington, the Modi-led government did not “want to take a chance”, and all necessary precautions were taken to inform the Trump administration of the decision.
The sources further added that the Indian Ministry of External Affairs had also apprised the representatives of Russia, China, France and the UK before abolishing the special constitutional status of Kashmir.
Moreover, the envoys of the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) were also informed of the developments.
Throughout these briefings, New Delhi maintained that the proposals being discussed in the Indian Parliament are strictly the internal matters of India.
The source within the Indian government noted, “These are aimed at providing good governance, promoting social justice and ensuring economic development in Jammu and Kashmir.”
Veteran diplomat K.C Singh said that India has made a well-calculated decision and the international community has not reacted against this movie.
K.C Singh said, “There has been no international reaction yet on this issue, which shows that India had done its calculations well in advance.”
With regards to Washington, K.C Singh noted, “And the US being an important and crucial member of the P-5, it is imperative to see how it reacts. If it ignores the move, then perfect. If it does not, then India should be worried.”=DNA
