‘It’s a good thing’: Congress, RLD back US Ambassador for calling J&K an ‘important part of India’

New Delhi, Aug 20 (SocialNews.XYZ) As Pakistan summoned a US diplomat following remarks by the American envoy to India on Jammu and Kashmir, Congress and RLD on Thursday welcomed the development, asserting that the UT is an integral part of India and there is no question of making any changes to its status.

Congress leader Husain Dalwai said that the US had taken a positive stand on the issue and also supported Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's response to the remarks.

"It's a good thing. America has taken a very good stand. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has welcomed the US Ambassador's statement. Jammu and Kashmir is Indian territory. There is no question of making any changes to it. PoK should also be included in Jammu and Kashmir. It should come to India," Dalwai told IANS.

RLD leader K.C. Tyagi also welcomed the government's move where they removed encroachments outside the Pakistan High Commission.

"I appreciate the courageous step of the government. This is called tit-for-tat," he said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police S.P. Vaid, however, said the matter was primarily between Pakistan and the United States and that the American position on Jammu and Kashmir was not new.

"That is between Pakistan and the US. Let us see what response the US gives. But we believe this has always been the usual policy. I don't see anything new in this. The US has continued to say that Jammu and Kashmir is a part of India," Vaid said.

"That is what Sergio Gor has said. They have not said anything new. Pakistan is offended," he added.

The reactions came after United States Ambassador to India Gor, in a significant endorsement of India's stated position on Jammu and Kashmir, described the Union Territory as "an important part of India".

Gor arrived in Srinagar on Wednesday for a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

"Kashmir is an important part of India. I am visiting the place for the first time. It is an incredibly beautiful place," Gor said after meeting Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

"We had a very warm meeting, and we look forward to building on our relationship," Gor told mediapersons, with Omar Abdullah standing beside him.

This is the first visit by the top US diplomat, who also serves as President Trump's Special Envoy for South and Central Asia, to Kashmir since Operation Sindoor last year. His visit is being seen as a significant US diplomatic engagement amid heightened strategic developments in the region.

Meanwhile, a section of structures outside the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi was demolished after authorities found them to be beyond the mission's approved boundary.

The action was carried out by the agencies concerned using a JCB machine, which removed structures and barricades erected along the lane outside the compound, including queue-management installations near the visa section.

Authorities also dismantled the external security perimeter outside the Pakistan High Commission, removing traffic bollards and barricades that had previously ring-fenced the diplomatic compound. The development comes three days after Pakistani authorities reportedly removed protective security barricades outside the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

Source: IANS