Visitors are seen at the Parliament House in New Delhi on August 5, 2019. The Indian government on August 5 rushed through a presidential decree to scrap a special status for disputed Kashmir, hours after imposing a major security clampdown in the region. Image Credit: AFP

New Delhi: The UAE has taken note of the Indian government’s decision of non-operationalisation of some sections of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution related to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, said Dr Ahmad Al Banna, the UAE ambassador to India.

Dr Al Banna added: “We also took note of the introduction of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill in the Indian Parliament aimed at replacing Article 370 with the creation of Ladakh region and the state of Jammu and Kashmir as India’s two new Union Territories.”

He commented that from his understanding the reorganisation of states is not a unique incident in the history of independent India and that it was mainly aimed at reducing regional disparity and improving efficiency. He viewed this latest decision related to the state of Jammu and Kashmir as an internal matter as stipulated by the Indian Constitution.

The ambassador expressed hope that this decision of the Indian government would help improve the social and economic conditions and welfare of the people of the state of Jammu and Kashmir as well as Ladakh. “We expect that the changes would improve social justice and security and confidence of the people in the local governance and will encourage further stability and peace,” he added.

US says closely following events in Kashmir

Washington: The US State Department said on Monday it was closely following events in Kashmir after India said it was revoking the special status of the territory and expressed concern about reports of detentions.