NEW DELHI – A new setback in India and United States bilateral relationsover Occupied Kashmir lockdown.
Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has cancelled ameeting with senior members of the United State’s Congress this week overKashmir criticisms, the *Washington Post*link reported.
According to the report published on Thursday, US lawmakers had refuseddemands to exclude from the meeting a congresswoman, Pramila Jayapal, whohad criticised the Indian government’s actions and policies in the occupiedvalley.
During his visit to Washington, the Indian external affairs minister wasslated to meet the House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman RepresentativeElliot L Engel, the committee’s top Republican Rep Michael McCaul andothers, the report added.
Jayapal, in a recent bipartisan resolution moved in Congress alongsideSteve Watkins, had urged India to end the restrictions on communicationsand mass detentions in occupied Kashmir as swiftly as possible and preservereligious freedom for all residents.
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Born in Madras (Chennai), Jayapal is the first Indian-American woman toserve in the US House of Representatives. In response to the abruptcancellation, Jayapal said: “The cancellation of the meeting
was deeply disturbing. It only furthers the idea that the Indian governmentisn’t willing to listen to any dissent at all.”
