Situationer: From Indian action to IMF’s caution, US reaction

ISLAMABAD: The day New Delhi abolished Indian Held Kashmir’s special status and made it part of its own territory in blatant violation of UN Resolution of Kashmir, Washington termed it as India’s “internal matter” whereas the IMF cautioned Pakistan that failure to get out of FATF grey list could jeopardise country’s foreign financing assurances.

Though IMF maintains it is an independent body immune to political influence having a consistent stance on the FATF issue, some circles question the timing of its latest statement coinciding with revocation of Held Kashmir’s constitutional status.

Furthering the suspicion about a possible trap set for Pakistan, Indian media- ThePrint- claims that its External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had briefed his American counterpart, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, about the Modi government’s intention to abrogate Article 370 and Article 35A for Jammu and Kashmir.

ThePrint disclosed that this, however, was not the first time that the US was briefed on this issue. In February, two days after the Pulwama attack, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had phoned his American counterpart John Bolton and told him about the Modi government’s plans to do away with the ‘special status’ for Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan was though overwhelmed with US President Trump’s offer of mediation between Pakistan and India to help resolve the issue of Kashmir, the latest response of Washington on India’s IHK move subtly support New Delhi.

Ignoring the UN Resolution’s on Kashmir, US on Monday urged India to engage in discussion with those affected by its decision to revoke Kashmir’s special status but also noted that New Delhi describes this action as an “internal matter”.

State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said, “We are closely following the events in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. We take note of India’s announcement revising the constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir and India’s plan to split the state into two union territories,”

The statement issued in Washington, however, also referred to India’s position on this issue, without mentioning the Pakistani position. “We note that the Indian government has described these actions as strictly an internal matter,” Ms Ortagus said.

The statement also failed to mention US President Donald Trump’s recent offers to mediate between India and Pakistan to help resolve the Kashmir dispute.

In a July 22 statement, President Trump had said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him to mediate on the Kashmir dispute. Although India denied ever asking him to do so, Mr Trump reiterated his stance earlier this week, saying that he’s willing to help if both countries ask him to.

In a strange coincidence, the IMF’s Resident Chief Teresa Daban Sanchez also chose to spoke on Monday, warning that Pakistan’s failure to get out of FATF grey list could have implications on capital inflows jeopardizing foreign financing assurances.

“The IMF could continue dealing with countries into grey or blacklist but it will have impact on capital inflows. The IMF Board of Directors wants Fund to look into matters of money-laundering and terror-financing because it hampered taxation system. The IMF is mainly responsible for ensuring macroeconomic and financial stability, so looking into FATF issues becomes important for us,” the IMF’s Resident Representative in Pakistanis reported to have said while talking to Senior Journalists Forum organised here at the National Press Club (NPC) on Monday.

The Indian government on Monday rushed through a presidential decree to abolish articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution, which grants a special status to Indian Held Kashmir.