Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said Pakistan’s decision to summon the US Chargé d’Affaires over remarks on Jammu and Kashmir was a matter between Islamabad and Washington, while stressing that the issue did not concern him or India.
Pakistan on Wednesday summoned US Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker and lodged a “strong demarche” over remarks made by US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor during his visit to Srinagar.
Gor, during a joint media briefing with Omar Abdullah on Wednesday, said Jammu and Kashmir was an important part of India and described the Union Territory as an “incredibly beautiful place”. He also said the United States would reconsider its travel advisories for J&K, citing steps taken by the Centre and the Omar Abdullah-led administration to make the region safer.
Asked about Pakistan’s protest, Omar said the matter was strictly between Pakistan and the United States.
“That is a matter between Pakistan and the US. Neither you nor I can do anything about it. Whatever the US Ambassador to India said, he has said it. It is now between those two countries,” the Chief Minister told reporters in Srinagar.
Omar also declined to engage in a war of words with his alliance partner Congress over the ambassador’s remarks.
Congress has maintained that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and that there should be no third-party intervention in the issue.
“I am not getting into this. Congress has their point of view. They are a political party, the largest opposition party, and are entitled to it. I am not going to get into a war of words over this,” Omar said.
Meanwhile, PDP president and former J&K chief minister Mehbooba Mufti criticised the significance being attached to the US ambassador’s comments, saying there was no need to take the United States “so seriously”.
Mehbooba argued that American interventions in different parts of the world had caused widespread destruction and said Washington was not in a position to give Jammu and Kashmir a “certificate” before dialogue could take place.
She also said the resolution of Jammu and Kashmir-related issues would have to come from New Delhi and not Washington.
However, she expressed disappointment that Omar Abdullah did not, according to her, use the ambassador’s visit to convey the concerns of the people of J&K.
Mehbooba further alleged that visits by foreign dignitaries to J&K had become more restricted after 2019, claiming that such visits were now “curated” and that foreign officials did not interact with a wider cross-section of people as they had before.
Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Tariq Karra, meanwhile, said Jammu and Kashmir being an integral part of India was not a new position and that any attempt at third-party intervention represented a failure of the Centre’s policy.
“Whether it is the US ambassador, the US secretary, or any diplomat in the world who says today that J&K is an integral part of India, they haven’t said anything out of the ordinary,” Karra said.
He linked the issue to what he described as excessive US involvement in India’s affairs and cited the US role during Operation Sindoor as an example of what he termed the government’s “failed policy”.
Karra said Congress did not recognise third-party intervention in the India-Pakistan issue and referred to the Shimla Agreement, saying that when it comes to matters between India and Pakistan, the two countries are the relevant parties.
“Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India, was an integral part of India, and will remain an integral part of India,” he said.
Pakistan’s diplomatic protest came after Gor’s remarks in Srinagar, adding a fresh dimension to the political debate in J&K, with Omar Abdullah distancing himself from the Pakistan-US dispute, Mehbooba questioning the significance of US intervention and the Congress reiterating its opposition to any third-party role in the Kashmir issue.
