The US state department remained silent after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech against Pakistan.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, spokesperson for the State Department Elizabeth Trudeau said the United States had not changed its stance on Kashmir. She added that India and Pakistan should seek out a peaceful solution to Kashmir through talks.
She said that the US was appalled at the human rights violation in Kashmir.
Modi on Monday in a 94-minute long address at Red Fort for the Indian Independence Day did not comment on the human rights violation in Indian-held Kashmir, but expressed his concern over the Baloch freedom struggle.
“I want to speak a bit about the people in Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir,” he said.
“The world is watching, the people of Balochistan, Gilgit and Kashmir have thanked me a lot in the past few days and I am grateful to them. The way people from these Pakistani regions wished me well gives me great joy,” he said.
Modi asked the international community to judge the behaviour of India and Pakistan in the context of terror attacks in each other’s country but avoided the reference of Indian forces’ atrocities in Indian-held Kashmir.