Washington [US]: US lawmaker Ilhan Omar’s meeting with recently ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and her “unofficial, personal” visit to Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) did not represent the United States government in any way, an official said on Thursday (April 21).
India, on Thursday, condemned Omar’s visit to PoJK as violative of India’s territorial integrity and sovereignty and that it reflected her “narrow-minded” politics.
The Democratic Congresswoman is on a four-day visit to Pakistan that began on April 20. On Wednesday, she met Imran Khan and visited a part of PoJK.
Speaking to ANI, Derek Chollet, counsellor to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said, “It’s an unofficial personal visit, and it does not represent any policy change on behalf of the United States government.”
Omar, a Somali American who belongs to President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party, had, after her visit to PoJK, said Kashmir should get more attention from the United States, which elicited stern condemnation from India.
“I don’t believe that it (Kashmir) is being talked about to the extent it needs to in Congress but also with the administration,” Omar told reporters after visiting PoJK.
Condemning her visit to PoJK, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told reporters in New Delhi at a media briefing, “Let me just say that if such a politician wishes to practice her narrow-minded politics at home, that’s her business.”
“But violating our territorial integrity and sovereignty… makes this ours and we think the visit is condemnable,” Bagchi said.
The Islamabad visit by Omar, who represents Minnesota in the US House of Representatives, is the first by an American legislator since the new Pakistan government took office. Her meeting with Imran Khan at his residence at Bani Gala has been criticised since the ouster Pakistan premier had accused Washington of conspiracy to dislodge his government.
When asked what the US made of the Omar-Khan meeting, in particular, Chollet said, “Congresswoman’s visit was a personal visit. It was not something that the State Department helped to organise, so I don’t have much to comment on it. Because it was a visit made in her personal capacity.” (ANI)
