ISLAMABAD – Pakistan yesterday said that it was disappointed to note the controversial reference to Jammu and Kashmir in the US Department of State’s tweet regarding the resumption of 4G mobile internet in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said the reference was inconsistent with the disputed status of Jammu and Kashmir as recognized by numerous United Nations Security Council resolutions and the international community.
The tweet in question welcomed India’s decision to restore access to 4G mobile internet service in ‘India’s Jammu & Kashmir.’ “This marks an important step for local residents, and we look forward to continuing political & economic progress to restore normalcy in J&K,” the State Department had commented.
Later, however, a State Department spokesperson said the US had not changed its policy on Kashmir. The announcement was made during a news briefing by the US State Department spokesperson Edward Price, who was asked to comment on the recent tweet by the department in which the US referred to occupied Kashmir as ‘India’s Jammu and Kashmir.’ “Could you comment also on a tweet earlier today that State tweeted out saying that – it refers to India’s Jammu and Kashmir? Now, is this a change in policy? Does State does not recognize this as a disputed territory? Is there some sort of change in position that we need to know? There’s been certain criticism of the phrasing today,” asked a reporter.
“I want to be very clear there has been no change in US policy in the region,” said Price.
FO spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said Jammu and Kashmir was one of the oldest items on the agenda of the UNSC, “which remains unresolved because of India’s intransigence and unwillingness to implement the relevant UNSC resolutions and its own solemn commitments made to Pakistan, the Kashmiris and the international community.”
He added: “The political and economic progress of the people of Jammu and Kashmir is inextricably linked to the realization of their desire for exercising the right to self-determination.”
He said the international community, including the United States, must urge India to stop its consistent and systematic human rights violations in IIOJK – including arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, incarceration of political leaders, ongoing efforts to change the demographic structure of the occupied territory, extra-judicial killings of Kashmiris in fake “encounters”, and staged cordon-and-search operations — and take genuine steps to resolve the dispute in a peaceful manner in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions.
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