Washington: Donald Lu, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, has said that Washington recently pressed the Modi regime to restore local elections and political rights in all the regions across the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
In a media interview, Donald Lu said: “I want to clarify that there has been no change in the American policy on Kashmir.” He added that US has discussed human rights violations in India, especially in Indian administered Kashmir, at a high level with New Delhi.
He said that the solution to the Kashmir dispute was possible only through direct negotiations between India and Pakistan. He further stated that it should be ensured that the media could continue to do its job in Kashmir. “All this is necessary for peace and it is hoped that peace can be ensured in Kashmir in the coming years.” 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.
Prime Minister Modi is participating in 17th G-20 summit in Indonesia. It is dire time that International community must urge India to stop its consistent and systematic human rights violations in occupied Kashmir including arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, incarceration of political leaders, efforts to change the region’s demographic structure, extra-judicial killings of Kashmiris in fake ‘encounters’ staged cordon-and-search operations and take genuine steps to resolve the dispute in a peaceful manner in accordance with the relevant UNSC resolutions.
Please visit our website London Institute of Peace Research for latest peace news
