As Pakistan struggles to soothe its electorate after India’s move to abrogate Article 370 and bifuracte the Indian state Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, the United States of America has also snubbed the rogue nation and, in a statement, along with firmly calling on Pakistan to refrain from any military adventurism in the region. The USA has also urged Pakistan to take conclusive action against terrorists operating out of Pakistani sovereign territory.
“Pakistan must refrain from any retaliatory aggression, including support for infiltrations across the Line of Control, and take demonstrable action against the terrorist infrastructure on Pakistan’s soil,” the official statement read. This statement by USA shall serve as a major embarrassment to Pakistan which has been attempting to overshadow its involvement with terror groups.
“The USA is closely following India’s legislation regarding the new territorial status and governance of Jammu and Kashmir. We note the broader implications of these developments, including the potential for increased instability in the region,” a State Department spokesperson told PTI.
The response from USA from comes just after Imran Khan government had decided to take ‘retaliatory’ measures against India; as it announced expulsion India’s high commissioner Ajay Bisaria and also announced that it will not be sending its envoy to India. Along with downgrading diplomatic ties, Pakistan has also suspended all the bilateral trade with India, which according to trade experts will only hurt Pakistan, which is already struggling under massive debts. Nonetheless, contrary to Pakistani beliefs, these measures, instead of nudging the international community to intervene in India’s internal matter, have only further isolated the country which is reaching out to nations around the world to churn sympathy for its nefarious plans.
This response coming from USA is sure to not go down well with the Pakistani deep sate and PM Imran Khan, who has been trying to project the recent visit to the western nation as some sort of a diplomatic breakthrough. It is to note that that Pakistan which has been highly dependent on USA in terms of its financial and military requirements over the past decades, had received its first major snub from USA when towards the end of last year USA had suspended annual military aid amounting to $3 billion.
Then USA President Trump on suspension of the aid had said “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!”
Imran Khan has been protesting India’s move in Jammu and Kashmir internationally and has suspended all ties with India including trade ties, has sent back India’s ambassador to Pakistan and closed its airspace for Indian flights, brewing up a war-like situation in the region. However, as USA draws focus on Pakistan’s support for cross border infiltrations and terror activities, Pakistan’s efforts to defame India continue to fail and the rogue nation is left red-cheeked once more. USA also coming out in direct support of India by calling the developments in Jammu and Kashmir as ‘India’s internal matter’ is sure to further hurt Pakistan. Earlier Donald Trump had offered to mediate between India and Pakistan and said that PM Modi had asked him to help with disputed “disputed Kashmir” region and also added he would “love to be a mediator”. For which he had to face criticism from all quarters. Pakistan riding on these vacuous comments of American President had tried to project it as another diplomatic victory. Nonetheless, these comments failed to make any real ground difference other than in power corridors of Pakistan. Though all the outstanding issue between India and Pakistan are poised to be resolved bilaterally, Article 370 abrogation in Jammu and Kashmir certainly is an internal matter for India, and Pakistan’s involvement in the issue amounts to nothing more than a foreign intervention on India’s sovereignty.
