Srinagar, December 2
The US Ambassador to India, Mr Robert Blackwill, arrived here this evening on the first leg of his three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir.
Soon after his arrival here, he was flown to the 15 Corps headquarters of the Army. Mr Blackwill had a meeting with senior civil and police officials about the prevalent situation in the valley. He was also meeting senior Army officers to have an assessment of the situation within the state and along the border with Pakistan.
Mr Blackwill is scheduled to visit some forward areas along the LoC in north Kashmir tomorrow, particularly the areas that have witnessed much damage due to cross-border shelling during recent months. He will go to Jammu on Wednesday for deliberations with senior state government functionaries before his departure for New Delhi.
Assailing the visit of Mr Blackwill, a radical pro-Pak militant outfit Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen (JuM) said it would not help in restoring peace in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a statement, the JuM claimed that Mr Blackwill’s visit was to work out modalities with the state government to restore peace in the state by sidelining the basic issue which would not work. The statement alleged that Mr Blackwill had been controversial and had always favoured the Indian point of view on the Kashmir issue.
JAMMU: Senior state government functionaries, besides the top brass in the Army’s Northern Command, have prepared a detailed account of Islamabad’s open aid and encouragement to cross-border terrorism which will be conveyed to Mr Blackwill, during the visit.
It is for the first time that the senior American diplomat will have prolonged discussions with the state government and Army functionaries on the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Informed sources said the state government functionaries would convey to the American Ambassador their fears over the way Pakistan machinations in Jammu and Kashmir could defeat the purpose for which the free and fair elections were held in the state recently.
The government emphasis would be on forcing Pakistan to keep its hands off Kashmir which was in the interest of peace not only in Jammu and Kashmir, but in the world.
