US demands India provide ‘roadmap’ to normalcy in Kashmir
WASHINGTON, (HINDUSTAN TIMES), OCT 25, 2019 - US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Alice Wells said, the US remains “deeply concerned” about the situation in the Kashmir Valley.
The United States on Thursday told India to provide a “roadmap” to political and economic normalcy in Kashmir and an immediate release of all political detainees, as it asked Pakistan to take “sustained and irreversible” steps against militants and terrorists in its territory.the US remains “deeply concerned” about the situation in the Valley where daily life of nearly eight million residents has been severely impacted since the decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and to “detain without charge” political leaders and restrict communications, Wells said in an interaction with reporters at Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department. Most of the top level and second rung separatist politicians of Jammu and Kashmir have been taken into preventive custody while mainstream leaders, including two former chief ministers --Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti, have been either detained or placed under house arrest.
“We’ve seen progress for example four million postpaid mobile phone users have had service restored, but SMS and internet is restricted,” she said.
Wells said terrorist groups like Lashkar-e-taiba, Jaishe-mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen “obviously are the problem”.
“In this vein, we welcome (Pakistan) Prime Minister (Imran) Khan’s unambiguous statement in September that anyone who crosses from Pakistan to carry out violence in Kashmir are enemies of both Pakistan and the Kashmiri people,” she said.