{"id":40372,"date":"2019-08-05T21:23:36","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T21:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=40372"},"modified":"2019-08-05T21:23:36","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T21:23:36","slug":"us-calls-for-peace-stability-after-indias-move-in-kashmir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=40372","title":{"rendered":"US calls for peace, stability after India’s move in Kashmir"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The United States<\/a> has called for “peace and stability” along the de-facto border that separates India and Pakistan in\u00a0Kashmir\u00a0<\/a>after New Delhi\u00a0<\/span>revoked<\/a>\u00a0the special status granted to the Indian-administered portion of the disputed-territory.<\/p>\n

New Delhi’s move on Monday\u00a0came\u00a0hours after the Indian government imposed a major security clampdown in the region, with\u00a0all communication lines suspended and\u00a0local politicians put under house amid growing tensions following a massive deployment of troops.<\/p>\n

Morgan Ortagus, spokeswoman for the US department of state, said Washington was following events in Indian-administered Kashmir “closely”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We are concerned about reports of detentions and urge respect for individual rights and discussion with those in affected communities,” she said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We call on all parties to maintain peace and stability along the Line of Control,” she added, referring to the de facto border.\u00a0<\/p>\n

India and Pakistan<\/a> both claim Kashmir in full, but\u00a0administer separate portions of the region since gaining independence from the British in 1947.<\/p>\n

The nuclear armed neighbours have fought two of their three wars over the territory.<\/p>\n

Islamabad has condemned New Delhi’s latest move, with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan saying it “was in clear violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions”\u00a0in the region, according to a statement released after a telephone call with Malaysia’s prime minister on Monday evening.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Khan on Sunday had called on India to allow the US to mediate in the dispute.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During a visit by Khan to Washington, DC last month, US President Donald Trump offered to mediate between India and Pakistan on Kashmir, an offer that Pakistan welcomed and India rejected.<\/p>\n

“President Trump offered to mediate on Kashmir. This is the time to do so as the situation deteriorates there and along the [Line of Control, the LoC] with new aggressive actions being taken by Indian occupation forces,” said Khan. “This has the potential to blow up into a regional crisis.”<\/p>\n

‘Restraint’<\/h2>\n

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres<\/a>, meanwhile,\u00a0has urged India and Pakistan to exercise restraint, according to a spokesman.<\/p>\n

Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Monday that the world body’s peacekeepers observing a ceasefire between India and Pakistan in the state of Jammu and Kashmir “have observed and reported an increase in military activity along the Line of Control that divides India- and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.<\/p>\n

“We urge all parties to exercise restraint,” he said.<\/p>\n

Germany<\/a>\u00a0called on the Indian government to hold discussions with the local communities in Jammu and Kashmir.<\/p>\n

Maria Adebahr, spokeswoman for the German foreign ministry, said at a news conference in Berlin that India must comply with its constitution which guaranteed<\/a> the country’s only Muslim-majority state autonomy in exchange for joining the Indian union after independence in 1947.<\/p>\n

“We believe that all further steps of the government must comply with India’s constitution,” she said, urging New Delhi to respect civil rights secured by the law.<\/p>\n

“We are calling on the Indian government to hold dialogue with the population concerned about its plans, its intentions,” Adebahr said.<\/p>\n

Amnesty International, a global rights group, said on Twitter that “the unilateral decision” made by India without consulting stakeholders “amidst a clampdown on civil liberties and communications blackout is likely to increase the risk of further human rights violations and inflame tensions”.<\/p>\n

Aakar Patel, the group’s India chief, said on Twitter that the additional deployment of “thousands of security forces”, a blanket blockade of telephone and internet services and restrictions on peaceful assembly already “pushed the people of [Jammu and Kashmir] to the edge”.<\/p>\n

In Islamabad,\u00a0Khan also held a phone conversations with his counterpart in Turkey over the situation in Kashmir.<\/p>\n

According to a statement from his office, Khan told Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan<\/a>\u00a0that “India’s illegal actions to modify the special status of the Indian Occupied Kashmir would have serious implications for the regional peace and security”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Erdogan “shared the concerns” and assured Khan of Turkey’s support, the statement said.<\/p>\n

Also on Monday, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the country would “exercise all possible options to counter the illegal steps”.<\/p>\n

Pakistan also summoned<\/a> the Indian high commissioner to Islamabad to register the country’s “unequivocal rejection” of India’s decision.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people in the Pakistani city of Lahore gathered to protest against the decision, with other small demonstrations taking place in the capital, Islamabad, and on some university campuses.<\/p>\n

Larger rallies are expected on Tuesday, when Pakistan will hold a joint parliamentary session and its top military commanders will meet to discuss the move.<\/p>\n

India’s decision also prompted condemnation from Pakistanis on Twitter, where at one point the top six trending hashtags all related to the move.<\/p>\n

Pakistan’s human rights minister Shireen Mazari branded the step on Twitter as an “illegal annexation”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States has called for “peace and stability” along the de-facto border that separates India and Pakistan in\u00a0Kashmir\u00a0after New Delhi\u00a0revoked\u00a0the special status granted to the Indian-administered portion of the disputed-territory. New Delhi’s move on Monday\u00a0came\u00a0hours after the Indian government imposed a major security clampdown in the region, with\u00a0all communication lines suspended and\u00a0local politicians put…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":40373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}