SRINAGAR: A day after US envoy to India Sergio Gor described Jammu and Kashmir as an “important part of India” during his visit to Kashmir, the remarks drew sharply divergent reactions from political parties in the Union Territory.
While the BJP and Apni Party welcomed the comments as a diplomatic boost for India and a setback to Pakistan’s narrative on Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the matter was now between the US and Pakistan. The Congress questioned why J&K needed recognition from a foreign country, while PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said there was no need to take the US “seriously”.
Gor, during his visit to Kashmir on Wednesday, described Jammu and Kashmir as an “important part of India” and said the US would reconsider its travel advisory for the region in view of the improved security situation.
J&K Congress president Tariq Hamid Karra said Jammu and Kashmir had always been, and would remain, an integral part of India, and questioned the need for any foreign country to certify its importance.
“I don’t know why he should have said this. What importance he is trying to give to J&K, I think it is a failure of the present dispensation,” Karra said.
“Anyone saying it has an importance, it has nefarious designs behind it,” he added.
Karra also invoked the Simla Agreement, saying neither India nor Pakistan needed third-party intervention on Kashmir.
“After the Simla Agreement, none of the countries had to have third-party intervention. And it is only during the BJP’s regime that we are seeing third-party interventions,” he said.
Karra further alleged that several decisions were being “forced” on India and said the country was moving towards a “colonial style of functioning”.
“Many decisions are being forced on us, many such things which have no international ramifications like taxation and other things are being imposed on us. Today India under such intervention seems to be going back to the colonial style of functioning,” he said.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, meanwhile, sought to distance himself from the remarks.
“What the US envoy has said, he has said. Now it is a matter between the US and Pakistan. Neither you can do anything about it, nor can I,” he said.
PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti also downplayed Gor’s remarks, saying, “We don’t need to take the US seriously.”
“Wherever the US intervened, it has caused destruction, from Vietnam to Iran. Whatever they say… they are not our masters. They are not the ones who will give a certificate to us,” she said.
“At one time the US was a superpower, but now the US is seeing economic and political downslide. So we should not take it so seriously,” she added.
The J&K BJP, however, described Gor’s remarks as a “major diplomatic achievement”. BJP spokesman Altaf Thakur credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy with strengthening India’s position globally.
Gor’s statement from Srinagar was particularly significant amid Pakistan’s efforts to internationalise the Kashmir issue, Thakur said, adding that it reflected growing international recognition of the “ground realities” in Jammu and Kashmir and amounted to a rebuttal of Pakistan’s narrative.
Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari also welcomed the remarks, saying Gor’s description of J&K as an “important part of India” was highly significant and reflected Washington’s acknowledgement of India’s position.
Bukhari said the US envoy’s indication that Washington could review its travel advisory for Jammu and Kashmir was encouraging and reflected recognition of the positive changes taking place on the ground.
