Article 370 India’s Internal Matter, Rajnath Singh Tells US Defence Secretary
US Defence Secretary Mark T Esper accepted India’s position that recent developments in Jammu and Kashmir are an internal matter, during a telephone conversation with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, a defence ministry spokesperson said in New Delhi. Esper expressed the hope that any issue between India and Pakistan would be settled bilaterally.
India’s message
Singh raised cross-border terrorism and thanked the US for supporting India’s efforts to keep the region peaceful and stable, the spokesperson said. He told Esper that withdrawing Jammu and Kashmir’s special status was an internal decision aimed at boosting economic growth, strengthening democracy and improving the prosperity of the region’s people.
The conversation followed one held a day earlier, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to US President Donald Trump by phone. Earlier in the month, India had ended the provisions of Article 370 that gave the state special status and split it into two union territories, provoking a strong reaction from Pakistan.
Defence ties
The two ministers welcomed the “significant progress” in defence cooperation and agreed to deepen ties further. They discussed military-to-military cooperation, defence policy, research and development, defence trade, and technology and industrial cooperation, and were pleased with plans for the first tri-service joint exercise later in the year.
They also noted steps to put into effect the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA), signed in 2016 after years of talks to give each country’s forces access to the other’s military facilities, and the Communications, Compatibility, Security Agreement (COMCASA), an information-sharing pact signed the previous year after ‘2+2’ talks. That dialogue brings together the US secretaries of state and defence with India’s external affairs and defence ministers.
Singh invited US defence firms to invest in Indian defence manufacturing under ‘Make in India’, and both ministers said they were looking forward to the next ‘2+2’ dialogue in the US later in the year.
See also: election news and political leaders.
Originally published on 21 August 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.
Related News
Mamata Banerjee sworn in as West Bengal Chief Minister for a third time
Mamata Banerjee has been sworn in as Chief Minister of West Bengal for the thirdRead More
TMC silent on whether Mamata will share stage with Modi at Kolkata Port Trust event
It was still unclear on Thursday whether West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would shareRead More
Comments are Closed