LAHORE – Any hint of the US government’s activism in Kashmir would prove counterproductive because of New Delhi’s hypersensitivity to third party involvement in Kashmir, says The Hindu while quoting a cable disclosed by the WikiLeaks.
According to a US embassy cable sent by Ambassador Timothy Roemer on October 22, 2009, in order ensure success of the Indian government’s efforts to restore sustainable peace and stability in Kashmir, its engagement with the separatists and with the Kashmiri people must be free of any perception of outside influence.
After listing the confidence-building measures that the Indian government had to play within the Kashmir initiative, the embassy said the list was not meant to be prescriptive. “It is provided to help Washington understand the complicated, multi-faceted problem facing the GOI in Kashmir as it moves forward on what is clearly a high priority for Prime Minister [Manmohan Singh], [Union Home Minister P] Chidambaram and [Congress president] Sonia Gandhi.”
It said the Indian government was fully aware of the steps it could take and was carefully picking and choosing what was politically possible.
Jammu and Kashmir Police Director General Kuldeep Khoda told an embassy official that they had for the last two years increasingly become the public face of the security effort in the state.
