UNDERLINING THAT Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh are “integral and indivisible” parts of India, Delhi on Friday described Pakistan’s move to summon a top US diplomat as a sign of Islamabad’s “frustration” over US Ambassador Sergio Gor’s comment that J&K is an “important part of India”.

Responding to questions, Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Friday: “I will repeat, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are integral and indivisible parts of India. They were, they are, and they will remain so…I see no reason to comment on Pakistan’s frustration.”

Pakistan had summoned the US Charge d’Affaires and lodged a protest stating that Gor’s remarks regarding the status of Jammu and Kashmir were “factually incorrect” and “contradictory” to Washington’s longstanding position on Kashmir.

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US Ambassador Gor’s declaration from Srinagar that Jammu and Kashmir is “an important part of India” is not just Washington’s public affirmation of New Delhi’s long-standing position on J&K, but also being seen as a message to Islamabad and Beijing, especially in the wake of Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor.

A close confidant of President Donald Trump, Gor is also his special envoy to South and Central Asia. His meeting with J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah signals both acknowledgement and engagement with the UT’s first elected government post the 2019 constitutional changes.

For New Delhi, this is significant given that the India-US chill was precipitated by the India-Pakistan conflict amid Trump’s repeated claims of brokering the ceasefire following Operation Sindoor last year.

From Srinagar, Gor has reinforced Trump’s approach on Kashmir – from his first term itself – viewing it as an “internal matter” of India.

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This is the first standalone visit to the Valley by a serving US Ambassador since 2019 when Article 370 was abrogated and the state of J&K bifurcated into two Union Territories.

In January 2020, Kenneth Juster, who was the US Ambassador then, had been there as a member of a government-facilitated delegation of 15 foreign envoys. This was around the time groundwork was being done for Trump’s visit to India in February that year.

Between the visits by Juster and Gor, at least two American delegations travelled to Kashmir. In May 2023, a US delegation attended a G20 working group meeting on tourism. Another delegation from the US embassy visited in August 2024, before the elections in the Union Territory and met Omar Abdullah, in his capacity as NC chief, and Lt-Governor Manoj Sinha.

Ever since the abrogation of Article 370, the evolution of the US position has been noteworthy from India’s perspective — it saw least interference by the Trump 1.0 administration in 2019-2020.