New Delhi | External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has provided explanations for the communication lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir, said it was needed to cut all communication between the terrorists.
“It wasn’t possible to stop communications between militants without impacting all of Kashmir. How do I cut off communication between the terrorists and their masters on the one hand, but keep the Internet open for other people? I would be delighted to know,” he said in an interview with Politico magazine in Brussels, Belgium, a few days ago.
According to news agency PTI, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini urged for resumption of India-Pakistan talks and stressed on the need to “restore the rights and freedoms of the Kashmir population” in her meeting with S Jaishankar recently.
Several countries have raised objections to India’s imposition of security and communication restrictions post abrogation of Artice 370 in Kashmir.
However, the External Affairs Minister expressed confidence that security restrictions across the region would be eased in the “coming days”.
This would also include redeployment of police to their original duties, and a decrease in a number of additional troops, with Jaishankar saying, “Frankly, they have other jobs and other things to do.”
MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had earlier announced that all landline connections in Jammu and Ladakh are now active, and restoration work in Kashmir is being taken up in a phased manner.
Jaishankar also denied Imran Khan‘s claim that there was a Hindu nationalist agenda behind scrapping Jammu and Kashmir’s special status. “The kind of people who say this are people who don’t know India,” he said. “Does this sound like the culture of India?”.
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