No change in Kashmir policy: US

WASHINGTON: The US has announced that there was no change in its policy on Kashmir while calling on India and Pakistan to maintain calm and restraint.

Responding to questions about the changed status of Kashmir and the U.S. policy towards the region, the State department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said, "If there was, I certainly would not be announcing it here, but no, there's not."

For long, the U.S. has maintained that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and in its statements always encouraged the two countries to resolve concerns of mutual interest through dialogue. However, it also offers to bring the two countries together.

At the briefing yesterday, the spokesperson repeated that the U.S. supports dialogue between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. "It's something that we have called for for calm and restraint by all parties. We want to maintain peace and stability, and we, of course, support direct dialogue between India and Pakistan on Kashmir and other issues of concern."

In wake of India's decision to abrogate Article 370 and resultantly take away Kashmir's special status, the spokesperson said that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been in contact with his counterparts in the region on a daily basis. "We have a lot of engagement with India and Pakistan," she said, "Obviously, we just had Prime Minister Khan here, not just because of Kashmir. That's certainly an incredibly important issue and something that we follow closely, but we have a host of issues that we work with India on quite closely and that we work with Pakistan on quite closely. I would say that we are - as a State Department, we are incredibly engaged in Southeast Asia."

Addressing the human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, the spokesperson said, "it's something that we're talking to them about quite closely. We obviously, whenever it comes to - whenever it comes to any region in the world where there are tensions, we ask for people to observe the rule of law, respect for human rights, respect for international norms. We ask people to maintain peace and security and direct dialogue."

She reiterated that, "there are reports of detentions and restrictions of residents in Jammu and in Kashmir. And again, that's why we continue to monitor this very, very closely."