“I have an interest in meeting people with the objective of open discussion, not the people who already made up their minds,” Jaishankar said in response
Washington: The awaited resolution on Kashmir introduced by Indian American Pramila Jayapal in the US House of Representatives is an unfair characterization of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has said. He asserted that he has no interest in meeting Congresswoman and lawmakers who are neither objective nor open to discussion and have already made up their minds.
The Chennai-born first-ever Indian-American women elected to the House of Representatives ignored the voices of the diaspora from across the country as she went ahead with her pre-announced plans to introduce the resolution on Kashmir in the House early this month.
The awaited resolution, introduced after several weeks of efforts by the 54-year-old Jayapal, urges India to lift as swiftly as possible all restrictions on communications in Jammu and Kashmir which were imposed following the abrogation of Article 370 on 5 August. It also urges to preserve religious freedom for all the residents of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
India has defended the imposition of restrictions in Kashmir on the grounds that they were put to prevent Pakistan from creating more mischief through proxies and terrorists following the abrogation of Article 370 which ended the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
“I am aware of that (Congressional) resolution. I don’t think it’s a fair understanding of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir or fair characterization of what the government of India is doing. And I have no interest in the meeting (Jayapal),” Jaishankar said to Indian reporters here on Thursday as he concluded his trip to Washington DC, which was first to attend the India-US 2+2 talks.
The second 2+2 ministerial talks were hosted by Secretary of State Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Esper for their Indian counterparts Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh.
Do you treat the current resolution in the (House Foreign Affairs) committee seriously: the resolution that criticizes the situation in India? the Minister was questioned.
“I have an interest in meeting people with the objective of open discussion, not the people who already made up their minds,” Jaishankar said in response.
The Washington Post report said Jaishankar “abruptly canceled a meeting with senior members of Congress this week after US lawmakers refused demands to exclude” Jayapal from the meeting.
Jaishankar was supposed to meet the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Eliot L Engel; committee’s top Republican Michael McCaul and others, including Congresswoman the report said.
“This only furthers the idea that the Indian government isn’t willing to listen to any dissent at all. The seriousness of this moment should’ve been a reason for a conversation, not dictating who’s in the meeting, which seems very petty,”. The Washington Post quoted Jayapal.
However, Congressional sources familiar with the deliberations said that the meeting was canceled as House Foreign Affairs Committee kept on changing the ground rules of the meeting and kept on adding new members to the list.
A day before the meeting they added Jayapal and several other lawmakers who were known India-bashers and sponsors of the Congressional resolutions on Kashmir.
The Indian Embassy did not respond to questions. Earlier in the day, Jaishankar had explained, in response to a different question, his reasons for not meeting lawmakers who are not objective and are prejudiced.
Answering the question, Jaishankar said that the Indian government had no problem with the Democrats and it has a very strong relationship with them.
“No, I don’t think so. Honestly, I don’t think so. My own sense is that support for the relationship is extremely strong in very, very wide cross-section members of Congress and political leaders outside the Congress,” he said.
“So, I wouldn’t take a few voices and necessarily reach a sweeping conclusion, which your question seems to suggest,” the minister said when asked if India has a problem with the Democrats.
“I’m not personalizing this. I don’t want to get into names. All I’m saying is we have always operated in this country because we are always engaged with everybody (who) was reasonable and open-minded,” Jaishankar said.
In addition to his 2+2 ministerial talks, bilateral and those at the White House meetings, Foreign Minister also met leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Affairs Committee including its Chairman Senator James E Risch and Ranking Member Senator Bob Menendez.
He also met some of the key members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee including Congressmen Ami Bera and Brad Sherman from the Democratic party and Ted Yoho and Francis Rooney from the Republican Party.
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