Kashmiris are not alone in the world, says US presidential candidate
"We have to remind the Kashmiris that they are not alone in the world," says Kamala Harris, a major Democratic candidate for the 2020 US presidential election. "We are keeping a track on the situation. There is a need to intervene if the situation demands," she said in a recent statement. Her comments are even more significant because she is of Indian descent from her mother's side.
So far, three major presidential candidates have spoken on Kashmir - Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris. All three are members of the US Senate and have strong chances of being on the Democratic ticket for 2020, which may have two names from this list, one for president and the other for vice president.
And if US President Donald Trump's repeated offers to mediate between India and Pakistan over Kashmir are also counted, the number of US presidential hopefuls expressing concern over Kashmir goes up to four. So far, Mr Trump is the only Republican candidate for 2020.
Senator Warren reminded
India that "the rights of the Kashmiri people must be respected". And Senator Sanders said that India's Aug 5 action to annex Kashmir was "unacceptable".
He also urged the Trump administration to "speak out boldly" and back "a UN-backed peaceful resolution that respects the will of the Kashmiri people". Another Indian American lawmaker, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, joined 13 of her colleagues in the House of Representatives to write a joint letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month, asking him to lift the restrictions he had imposed in Kashmir.
Last week, a US Senate panel attached an amendment to a finance bill that requires India to end its lockdown and curfew in Kashmir valley and fully restore communications links to the occupied valley. Commenting on these arguments, President Azad Jammu and Kashmir Sardar Masood Khan said at a seminar in Washington last week that "there is a palpable shift" in the US position on Kashmir.
The Indian clampdown in the occupied valley has forced the international community, particularly the Americans, to have a closer look at this 72- year old dispute, he added.