National News

WASHINGTON, (APP): A former Indian ambassador has described
as a “watershed” event the mention of Kashmir issue in a joint statement issued after the recently held ministerial-level Pak-US Strategic Dialogue Process in the US capital, saying Washington has gone the extra mile to accommodate Islamabad’s desire to include the contentious issue in the talks.
Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar in his blog “Wake up PM Modi, Obama
calling” published on Indian news web portal rediff.com said that by adding the Kashmir dispute in the Joint statement, US has acceded to Pakistan’s demand for Washington to be receptive toward Pakistan’s core issue and vital concerns regarding its adversarial relationship with India
The Joint Statement, issued after the meeting that was attended by
Adviser to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz and US Secretary of State John Kerry said: “The United States and Pakistan emphasized the importance of meaningful dialogue in support of peaceful resolution of outstanding issues, including Kashmir”.
The Statement also “underscored that all parties in the region should
continuously act with maximum restraint and work collaboratively toward reducing tensions”.
“Pakistan has brilliantly succeeded in inserting the Kashmir issue
into the agenda of its institutionalized annual Strategic Dialogue with the US.For the first time, Washington has allowed the Kashmir issue to figure in the joint statement with Pakistan,” wrote the Indian ambassador, saying “the implications are simply profound”.
He also described as “worrying aspects” the addition of a new
sub-heading in the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue process “Fostering Strategic Stability”, which he observed was a “tacit recognition by the US of Pakistan’s demand” that it has deep concern over the US tilt toward India upsetting the strategic balance in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region and undermining the regional stability.
“There is no way of looking at this other than that the US has gone
the extra league to accommodate the Pakistani wishes against the backdrop of the rapidly changing regional security situation,” he observed.
He said that another “significant aspect” in the joint statement was
linking US-Pakistan defense cooperation with strategic stability in South Asia.”All in all, the two-day Strategic Dialogue which concluded in Washington on Tuesday becomes a watershed event in Pakistan’s diplomacy with the US,” he wrote.
The ambassador maintained that what reflective in the joint statement
was the tip of the iceberg and that it stands to reason that the Aziz and the US Secretary went over these issues in great detail.
In the writer’s analysis, “all this becomes a learning curve for
Prime Minister Modi himself.It is time to reflect without pride or prejudice over the trajectory of the US-Indian relationship under his stewardship. What has India gained and what has Friend Barack gained?”.
He observed that the Pakistani diplomacy is successfully adjusting
itself to the rapidly changing regional and international security scenario.
It may be recalled that Pakistani diplomats in Washington, including
ambassador Jalil Abbas Jiliani, were very active in thwarting moves by the Indian lobby to block a US decision to sell additional F-16s aircraft to Pakistan.
The issue is now before the Congress.The ambassador also played an
active part in preparing the Joint Statement that mentioned the Kashmir as an outstanding issue between India and Pakistan.