Germany wants early lifting of curbs in Kashmir

New Delhi, Oct 1: While acknowledging that the change in Jammu and Kashmir’s constitutional status is an internal matter of India, Germany has said that it would like to see restrictions lifted and as well as a  continuation in bilateral contact between India and Pakistan.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, German ambassador to India Walter Lindner emphasised that Germany considers the developments an “internal matter”. But, he added, these steps also have “regional consequences”.

On August 5, the Indian government scrapped Section 370 of the constitution which gave the state of Jammu and Kashmir special status. It also broke the state down into two new union territories. Ahead of the move, India had detained hundreds of Kashmiri politicians and cut off the state from mobile and internet services.

After the Indian parliament approved the constitutional changes on August 5, the German foreign ministry spokesperson had said on August 6 that Berlin hoped that “all further steps of the (Indian) government will comply with India’s constitution”. She had also called on New Delhi to “hold dialogue with the population concerned about its plans, its intentions”.

Nearly two months later, Lindner said that Germany would like to see “early lifting of restrictions”. However, he also added that this easing of restrictions has to be “done in accordance with security issues”.

“But there should be no violations of human rights and trespassing of provisions,” said Lindner, adding that the “world would be closely watching”.

He also indicated that India and Pakistan should hold talks. “Germany would like to see continuation of bilateral contacts,” he stated.

In his speech at United Nations General Assembly, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan had also sought to make parallels between the situation in Kashmir and Hitler’s Nazi regime.

While Lindner refused to make a direct comment on Khan, he did note that “any such comparison is wrong”.

“Whoever talks of war is irresponsible,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)