 Early Times Report
Srinagar, Aug 20: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday said Pakistan's summoning of the US Charge d'Affaires in Islamabad over US Ambassador Sergio Gor's remarks on Jammu and Kashmir was a matter between the two countries.
"This is a matter between Pakistan and America. Neither you nor I can do anything about it. The American Ambassador said what he said. Now it is between the two countries," Omar told reporters.
Gor, who is also US President Donald Trump's special envoy for South and Central Asian affairs, during his first visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, said that J&K "is an important part of India." He met Omar Abdullah in Srinagar on the first day of his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Pakistan subsequently summoned the US Charge d'Affaires in Islamabad and lodged a "strong demarche" over what it described as the ambassador's "factually incorrect remarks" regarding the status of Jammu and Kashmir.
"This (Kashmir) is an important part of India. I am here, visiting for the first time. It is an incredibly beautiful place. I am thrilled to be here, thrilled to see this place. We just had a very good meeting. We have some follow-ups, so we hope to take back to Washington, back to Delhi. But (it was) a very warm, a very cordial (meeting) and we look forward to building this relationship forward," Gor told reporters after meeting Omar on Wednesday.
Asked about Congress questioning why India needed to hear from the US that Jammu and Kashmir was an important part of the country and that third-party intervention was unnecessary, Omar said Congress was entitled to its view.
"I am not getting into this. Congress has a point of view. They are a political party. They are the largest opposition party. They have a point of view. They are entitled to it," he said. "I am not going to get into a war of words over this. What can I say " Omar added. |
