Situation in IoK not normalised: US Congress body expresses bipartisan ‘concern’

(Karachi) A US House of Representatives panel on overseas relations has expressed bipartisan “concern” on the state of affairs in Jammu and Kashmir in a letter to India's exterior affairs minister S Jaishankar.

The letter has been written in response to India's August 6 claim that situation in Jammu and Kashmir has returned to normalcy.

The chairman of the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Eliot Engel, and the Ranking Member of the panel, Michael T McCaul, wrote to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, a year after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in New Delhi stripped Kashmir of its special status and re-organized the state into two Union Territories.

Democratic Representative Eliot Engel and Republican Representative Michael T McCaul stated in the letter, “We observe with concern that circumstances in Jammu and Kashmir haven’t normalised one year after India’s repeal of Article 370 and the institution of Jammu and Kashmir as a Union Territory."

The concern shown by US representatives is uncommon occasion of bipartisan criticism of the adjustments in Kashmir. Earlier, democrats condemned India's actions at various public gatherings while republicans remained silent over the issue declaring it an “inside matter” of India.