Pakistan gets miffed by US Ambassador Sergio Gor’s ‘J&K important part of India’ remark, issues demarche
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Pakistan gets miffed by US Ambassador Sergio Gor’s ‘J&K important part of India’ remark, issues demarche")
US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor met with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in Srinagar on Wednesday. Photograph: (X)
Pakistan objected to US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor’s remark and went on to call it “irresponsible” and “factually incorrect”. Gor’s remark assumed significance, as he also serves as the Special Envoy for South and Central Asia under the Trump administration.
US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor’s description of Jammu and Kashmir as an “important part of India” on Wednesday during his visit to Srinagar has riled Islamabad. Pakistan objected to Gor’s remark and went on to call it “irresponsible” and “factually incorrect”. Gor’s remark assumed significance, as he also serves as the Special Envoy for South and Central Asia under the Trump administration.
Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs summoned the US Charge d’Affaires in Islamabad to lodge a strong demarche over Gor’s remarks, which came during his two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir.
Islamabad “strongly condemned and categorically rejected” the characterisation of Jammu and Kashmir as “a part of India", Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said. It also urged the United States to ensure that its public statements remain consistent with what Islamabad describes as the “disputed status” of Jammu and Kashmir.
“It was highlighted that the irresponsible statement by the U.S. Ambassador negated the long-standing and well-documented position of the United States on the Jammu & Kashmir dispute, and also ran contrary to the United States’ commitment to supremacy of international law and the UN Charter,” the ministry said.
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Sergio Gor made the remark after arriving in Srinagar for his first visit to Jammu and Kashmir as the US ambassador. He met Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and described the region as an “important part of India”.
“It’s a pleasure to be here… This 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,” Gor said.
Gor also indicated that the United States could review its travel advisory for the Union Territory.
Meanwhile, reacting to Gor’s statement in Srinagar, Former Union Minister MJ Akbar said, “Sergio Gor’s statement on the status of Jammu and Kashmir is most welcome and perhaps long overdue. I hope this is not another exercise in giving India President Trump’s crumbs while the main meal is being served elsewhere... If the American ambassador in Islamabad repeats it, then it will raise more confidence in India about the long-lasting implications of such a position. We hope that this will also end the rather American habit of seeing this region with cross-ties because of its alliance with Pakistan... Perhaps Pakistan’s most dependable ally has also seen the reality of what is happening today in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, where the people are suffering from poverty and persecution, because Pakistan has always treated POK as a colony.”
(With inputs from Sidhant Sibal and Idrees Lone)
