US delinks Pakistan from Kashmir violence surge

State Department spokesperson says she wouldn’t jump to any conclusions.

WASHINGTON:

The United States on Saturday cautioned against making any assumptions linking Pakistan to the latest bout of violence in Indian Kashmir, while also brushing aside the notion that last week’s meeting between Army Chief General Raheel Sharif and Secretary of State John Kerry was somehow connected to the flare-up in the Uri area.

“I think that you’re conflating a couple of things. Obviously, we know the Secretary [of State John Kerry] and [General] Raheel Sharif had a very productive discussion on a range of security-related issues, and again, we’re concerned about any violence in Kashmir, and I wouldn’t jump to conclusions here,” the State Department’s deputy spokesperson Marie Harf told an Indian journalist in response to his questions at the daily briefing.

The premise of the question sought to put the blame on Pakistan for Friday’s incident and the questioner also wanted to know the US position if there was a link between the meeting and the fighting involving militants and Indian soldiers in the disputed Indian Kashmir.

“No, I was saying - I actually was trying not to accept the premise of the question,” the spokesperson emphasised, when asked if she accepted the premise in the question about who might have been behind the violence.



Asked if the US knew whether there was any Pakistani involvement, the spokesperson cautioned against any assumptions: “I wouldn’t assume anything.” The spokesperson, however, expressed concern over violence in the disputed Himalayan region and urged India and Pakistan to hold dialogue on the issue of Kashmir.

Reiterating Washington’s position on addressing the Kashmir dispute, the spokesperson said: “So obviously we’re concerned about any violence in Kashmir.   Our policy on Kashmir hasn’t changed. We still believe that the pace and the scope and character of India and Pakistan’s dialogue on Kashmir is for those two countries to determine, of course.”

She also added that American embassies in both capitals, Islamabad and New Delhi, “have raised these types of incidents with their respective host governments and certainly encouraged both to continue working together on the issue.”

Eleven Indian security men, including eight soldiers, and six militants were killed when fighting broke out in Uri, rocking the region ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the disputed territory.


Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2014.