US snubs Pakistan over Kashmir: In yet another snub, the United States has categorically asked Pakistan to lower its rhetoric over the Kashmir issue. A top US diplomat said that while Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan keeps harping about human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, why has he not spoken on the condition of Uighur Muslims in China.
“A lowering of rhetoric would be welcome, especially between two nuclear powers,” Alice Wells, the top State Department official for South Asia, told reporters.
“I would like to see the same level of concern expressed also about Muslims who have been detained in western China, literally in concentration-like conditions,” she added.
Speaking at a think-tank in New York earlier this week, Imran Khan was asked about the Uighur issue, however, the Pakistan PM declined to comment, saying his country shares a special relationship with Beijing.
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The US has been trying to highlight the plight of Uighur Muslims in China on various international stages to build pressure. According to reports, China has detained over one million Uighurs.
Imran Khan has been unsuccessfully trying to rake up the issue of scrapping of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir by alleging human rights violations in the region. New Delhi has made it amply clear that abrogation of the law providing special status to Jammu and Kashmir was an internal issue which does not require any interference by the international community.
The US has also refused to buy Pakistan’s narrative on the issue with President Donald Trump clarifying that Washington was ready to help both the nuclear-power Asian neighbours if they want.
“If both (Pakistan and India) want, I am ready to do it. If I can help, I will certainly help,” Trump had said after meeting Imran Khan in New York a day after attending the mega Howdy Modi event in Houston.