(Image source from: www.indiatvnews.com)

The Indian Ambassador to the United States, Harsh Vardhan Shringla explained the US lawmakers about the current situation of the Kashmir and the kind of steps that the government is taking to bring back peace to the province following revoke of the special status that they had.

The process of the revoke started by August 16 where it included the gradual removal of the curbs and the same was then permanently removed by September. The most important and prominent incident that happened was the restoration of the normal network and mobile services back in October 14th, 2019 for over 40 lakh subscribers across.

There were several Congressmen who attended the ambassadorial meeting while the majority of the lawmakers involved were from the opposition Democratic party. The only Indian-American lawmaker who was present in the briefing was Congressman Ami Bera.

Several of the diplomats from the Indian embassy along with Shringla have reached out to hundreds of Congressmen to get their ideologies and beliefs on the removal of the special status of the state.

The things have been running along since August 5th, 2019. Ever since then, the government has restored the post paid mobile services and has also opened the state for the tourists as well. By August 17th, around 17,000 of the landlines in the province were deemed operational again. The educational institutes have been opened as well but the attendance has been very low.

The government also claimed saying that 99% of the state had no restrictions on the movement. In addition to that, Congressman Brad Sherman who is currently focusing on holding a human rights hearing in South Asia next week said that the lawmakers have been hearing everything from the constituents and there has been no alarming restrictions as such.

The only thing that he noticed was the fact that the same was removed recently. In the briefing, Shringla also highlighted the human rights situation in Pakistan as well as the cross border terrorism.

Shringla further briefed the lawmakers on the context of the Kashmir problem and the kind of steps that the Indian government has been taking since August 05th. He also responded to the questions raised by the lawmakers to clarify their doubts.

The lawmakers wanted better and clearer information on mission people report, the communications ban as well as the restrictions on the movement around the city.

Shringla clarified all the allegations against the missing people and even assured all the lawmakers that if any of the constituents can’t reach their family or friends, he will make sure that the communication is streamlined without any further complaints.

The Indian ambassador also clarified stating that all the restrictions and bans have been lifted and the government is working to restore the peace in the place.

By Somapika Dutta