US ambassador to India Sergio Gor, during his visit to Kashmir Valley, has said, “Jammu and Kashmir is an important part of India and an incredibly beautiful place.” Those in the Pakistani establishment should understand this as a fact, but our neighbour has no intention of accepting this truth.
Pakistan Foreign Office yesterday summoned US Charge d’Affaires Natalie Baker and lodged a “strong demarche” over Sergio Gor’s remarks. Gor is also the Trump administration’s Special Envoy to South and Central Asia. “Pakistan strongly condemns and categorically rejects the characterization of Jammu and Kashmir as a ‘part of India’,” Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement. “Jammu and Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory”, it said. In Srinagar, Sergio Gor took a ‘shikara’ ride at the famous Dal Lake before meeting Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. Later, Gor, at a joint media briefing with Omar Abdullah, said “New Delhi (Centre), the chief minister here, the government here, have taken some incredible steps to keep this area safer and making it more safe.” Gor said, “We will be looking at if the travel warning that is imposed and recommended by the US should be downgraded because Kashmir is a beautiful area. I think a lot of Americans would enjoy coming here and seeing the beauty and the opportunities that exist here.”
This is the first visit to the Valley by an American ambassador since ‘Operation Sindoor’ that followed the brutal Pakistan-sponsored terrorist massacre of tourists at Pahalgam. Sergio Gor’s remarks are significant and must be viewed in this context. Gor today visited Ladakh, the first visit by any foreign diplomat since the Galwan Valley clash with Chinese army. The American ambassador’s visit to Kashmir and Ladakh are important in the sense that his remarks send a clear message to China and Pakistan. Sergio Gor is considered as one of the close confidantes of President Donald Trump. He worked as Director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office before he was appointed envoy to India. Sergio Gor speaks frankly about President Trump. When he arrived in Delhi, he said, how the President used to ring him up at the odd hour of 2 am, but now that he is in Delhi, the time suits him because it is daytime in India.
When Sergio Gor came to India, there was unhappiness here over President Trump’s decisions and comments relating to high US tariff, restrictions on US work visas and Trump’s tilt towards Pakistan. Things changed gradually after Gor became ambassador. Diplomats say, Sergio Gor has redefined the role of US ambassador. For him to visit Kashmir Valley and say that the valley is safe and secure is a big thing. He has promised to review the US advisory warning to American tourists not to visit Kashmir. This is quite significant.
Need to reboot NTA’s system, make a fresh start
The Supreme Court has asked pointed questions to the Centre on the issue of paper leaks during NEET-UG exam. The bench of Justice P. S. Narasimha and Alok Aradhe said, merely framing rules will not do, the effects must be seen on exams. The bench asked, what is the use of setting up the Nandan Nilekani Committee, when Radhakrishnan Committee’s recommendations were not implemented. The apex court said, National Testing Agency (NTA) should learn from UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) which had been conducting examinations in a foolproof manner since decades. The court suggested that experts well conversant with new technologies must be inducted in NTA and experienced officials must not be transferred frequently. The court said, it will continue to keep a watch on NTA’s work as far as NEET exams are concerned. We cannot allow lakhs of students to face injustice, the bench said.
The government’s claim that NTA’s exam system is foolproof flies in the face of facts on the ground. If the system was foolproof, how did the leakages happen? A system may look good on paper, the SOPs may be perfect, but there have been several cases where NTA failed to keep its examination papers safe and secure. The question is not related to NEET paper leaks alone. The issue related to the entire system working in NTA. Wherever private operators were hired for holding exams, there were irregularities. Question papers were leaked, there were cases of cheating. The entire system needs a reboot. Any patchwork repair in NTA will not do. A fresh start has to be made.