WASHINGTON - The United States condemned Friday’s attacks in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK), but doggedly rejected attempts to link Pakistan to the latest violence in the disputed state, ahead of next week’s election rally there of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The United States strongly condemns today’s (Friday’s) terrorist attacks in Kashmir, which claimed the lives of innocent civilians, military, and police personnel,” a senior State Department official said late in the evening.
Earlier in the day, a State Department spokesperson also brushed aside the notion that last week’s meeting between Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif and US Secretary of State John Kerry was somehow connected to flare-up in the Uri sector.
At the daily press briefing, an Indian journalist - sounding highly emotional - asked for comments on the attack, saying, “the Indian prime minister’s party and he (Modi) himself is very hawkish and no-nonsense kind. So this is going to erupt into some tensions, something (sic).”
“I think that you’re conflating a couple of things. Obviously, we know the Secretary and the army chief had a very productive discussion on Sunday on a range of security-related issues, and again, we’re concerned about any violence in Kashmir, and I wouldn’t jump to conclusions here,” Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf told the Indian journalist.
But the Indian journalist went on to say, “Knowing the Pakistani army’s alleged hand behind – or the blessings on this terrorist (sic), the Pakistani army chief was here and met the Secretary (Kerry), and then he goes back and this happens. So what message the Secretary gave him?”
“No, I was saying – I actually was trying not to accept the premise of the question,” the spokesperson emphasized.
Asked if the US does not know whether there was any Pakistani involvement, the spokesperson cautioned against any assumptions: “I wouldn’t assume anything.”
Thirteen people were killed in a series of terror attacks in Held Kashmir on Friday. In addition to a civilian, nine soldiers and three policemen were killed, marking the heaviest losses for security forces in the state in more than six years. Large parts of the state will vote on Tuesday in a staggered election.
“The United States remains firmly committed to working in close partnership with India to defeat terrorism in all its forms,” the State Department said in a statement issued on Friday evening. “Our hearts go out to the families of those affected by this deplorable attack,” it said.
At the briefing Spokesperson Harf voiced US concern about violence in Kashmir, adding that its policies on the dispute have not changed.
“We are concerned about any violence in Kashmir. Our policy on Kashmir hasn’t changed. We still believe that the pace and the scope and character of India and Pakistan’s dialogue on Kashmir is for those two countries to determine,” she maintained.
“Our embassies in both places have raised these types of incidents with their respective host governments and certainly encouraged both to continue working together on the issue,” she said.