Pakistan on Wednesday summoned US Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker and lodged a “strong demarche” over remarks by US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor, who described Jammu and Kashmir as an “important part of India” during his visit to Srinagar.
Gor, who is also US President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy to South and Central Asia, arrived in Srinagar on Wednesday on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. He is scheduled to travel to Ladakh on Thursday.
Speaking at a joint media briefing with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Gor said the United States would review its travel advisory for Jammu and Kashmir, citing steps taken by the Centre and the Union Territory administration to improve security.
“The United States puts out travel warnings and every so often, we re-evaluate those travel warnings. I cannot make any big announcements here today, but it is something we are going to look at,” Gor said.
He said New Delhi and the Jammu and Kashmir government had taken “incredible steps” to make the region safer.
“We will be looking at if the travel warning that is imposed and recommended by the United States is something that should be downgraded because, as I said earlier, this is a beautiful area. I think a lot of Americans would enjoy coming here and seeing the beauty and the opportunities that exist here,” he said.
Gor also described Jammu and Kashmir as “an important part of India” and “an incredibly beautiful place”.
The US envoy met Abdullah at the Chief Minister’s residence soon after arriving in Srinagar.
“I am thrilled to be here. We just had a very good meeting and we have some follow-ups that we hope to take back to Washington (and) back to Delhi. But a very warm, a very cordial meeting and we look forward to building this relationship forward,” Gor said.
Abdullah said the discussions covered India-US relations, with a particular focus on Jammu and Kashmir.
“It was a very good meeting. We had an opportunity to discuss the relations between our two countries, but with a specific focus on what the US can do with Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
“There are obviously certain legacy issues that over time we will be working to resolve. But we look forward to taking this conversation further. This is a conversation that will take place both between Ambassador Gor and Washington, and between me and the Government of India in New Delhi,” Abdullah said.
He added that he was “very hopeful and optimistic” that engagement between the United States and Jammu and Kashmir would “both widen and deepen in the years ahead”.
Hours after Gor's remarks, Pakistan's Foreign Office summoned Baker in Islamabad and lodged a formal protest.
“Pakistan strongly condemned and categorically rejected the characterisation of Jammu and Kashmir as a ‘part of India’,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.
It reiterated Islamabad's position that Jammu and Kashmir is an “internationally recognised disputed territory” whose final status should be determined in accordance with relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
Pakistan also described Gor's remarks as “irresponsible”, saying they contradicted what it called the longstanding and well-documented US position on the Kashmir dispute and Washington's commitment to international law and the UN Charter.
The Foreign Office said Pakistan had appreciated Trump's offer to mediate between India and Pakistan following the four-day conflict between the two countries in May last year.
Islamabad urged Washington to ensure that its public statements remained consistent with its position on the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir.
(With inputs from PTI)
