Efforts to silence @PramilaJayapal are deeply troubling. The U.S. and India have an important partnership—but our p… https://t.co/KpLykoUVPQ — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) 1576851667000

NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar has cancelled a meeting with US lawmakers, including Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal who is sponsoring a resolution on Kashmir in the House of Representatives.The meeting was cancelled after the rules were changed from meeting House Foreign Affairs Committee to meeting cosponsors of the bill on Kashmir. “I am aware of that (Congressional) resolution. I don’t think it’s a fair understanding of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, or a fair characterisation of what the government of India is doing. And I have no interest in meeting (Jayapal),” Jaishankar told a group of Indian reporters in Washington. “I have an interest in meeting people who are objective and open to discussion but not the people who already made up their minds.”The minister said the situation in Kashmir was briefly discussed during his bilateral meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. According to him, the US lawmakers, in separate meetings, had inquired about the amended Citizenship Act. “I gave them a more accurate picture than they have been getting from what they read,” he said.During his visit to Washington this week, Jaishankar was scheduled to meet the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC), Representative Eliot L Engel (Democrat NY); the committee’s top Republican and Representative Michael McCaul (Texas) and others. But later Jayapal was included in the list circumventing the rules set earlier, according to persons familiar with the developments.“They deliberately changed the rules of the game from meeting the HFAC to meeting the cosponsors of the bill. The meeting would have been an opportunity for Pramila Jayapal and Rashida Tlaib to harangue instead of having a constructive engagement with the Chair and Ranking Member,” a source said.Jayapal has introduced a Congressional resolution on Kashmir urging India to end as swiftly as possible restrictions on communications and preserve religious freedom for all residents. The resolution, introduced in the House of Representatives after several weeks of efforts by Jayapal, has only one cosponsor - Republican Congressman Steve Watkins from Kansas.Reacting to the development, Jayapal told Washington Post, “This only furthers the idea that the Indian government isn’t willing to listen to any dissent at all. The seriousness of this moment should’ve been a reason for a conversation, not dictating who’s in the meeting, which seems very petty.”Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren, US Senator and Democrat Presidential hopeful tweeted,“Efforts to silence @PramilaJayapal are deeply troubling. The U.S. and India have an important partnership—but our partnership can only succeed if it is rooted in honest dialogue and shared respect for religious pluralism, democracy, and human rights.”