US: Hope to see action by India on Kashmir curbs

UNITED NATIONS: The US hopes to see “rapid action” by India to lift restrictions imposed in Kashmir and release of those detained, a senior official of the US administration said a day after President Donald Trump offered to arbitrate or mediate between India and Pakistan to ease tensions.

Alice Wells, the top State Department official for South Asia, made the remark on Thursday after President Trump held separate talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on the sidelines of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Trump on Wednesday said he had offered “arbitration or mediation” on the Kashmir issue to the leadership of India and Pakistan and that the two nuclear-armed neighbours have to “just work it out”.

Wells’s statement also comes ahead of PM Modi’s address to the UN General Assembly on Friday shortly before Imran Khan takes up the stage. People familiar with developments said India will exercise its “right of reply” to respond to Khan’s address, which is expected to focus on the Kashmir issue.

Modi has resolutely focused on positioning India as a key player in a changing global order in the face of repeated attempts by Pakistan to internationalise the in the aftermath of New Delhi’s August 5 decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and reorganise the state into two Union Territories.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Wells also criticised Pakistan, questioning why Islamabad was only bothered about the human rights of Muslims in Kashmir, and was not highlighting the “horrific conditions” that continue to exist for members of the community in China. According to reports, an estimated one million Uighurs and other Turkicspeaking Muslims have been detained in China’s Xinjiang province.

“I would like to see the same level of concern expressed also about Muslims who are being detained in Western China, literally in concentration-like conditions. And so being concerned about the human rights of Muslims does extend more broadly than Kashmir...,”wells said.

Responding to questions on the Kashmir issue during a briefing, Wells noted that after India’s