NEW DELHI(PTI): India on Oct.27 expressed concern to the United States on the remarks of a senior American official questioning the validity of the instrument of Kashmir’s accession, which Indian capital New Delhi sees as a threat to its Kashmir policy.
U.S. charge D’ Affaires here, Kenneth Brill, was called to foreign office by Hardeep Puri, Joint Secretary, (Americas) Friday evening and India’s reaction was conveyed to him.
Official sources said India regretted that the U.S. assistant secretary, Robin Raphel, in a back ground briefing in Washington had called into question the status of north Indian Muslim dominated state of Jammu and Kashmir and stated that U.S. Government did not recognize the instrument of accession.
India, the sources said, saw a qualitative shift in the U.S. position going by Raphel’s statement, which gave a new tilt to US policy which went against India and which would further encourage the Kashmiris in their struggle for independence which the Indian Government is trying its best to crush.
The statement had been made when a highly charged situation prevails in Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian government had laid seize to the Hazratbal shrine, the holiest of Muslim shrines in India. The Muslim country’s have already warned India to go show and unconditionally allow the militants to leave the shrine by fighting the seize.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 5, 1993
