New Delhi/Washington, August 7: The US government on Wednesday clarified that it was neither informed nor consulted by the Indian government over scrapping of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370. Alice Wells, Acting Assistant Secretary of Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, dismissed media reports that the US government knew about the revocation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

"Contrary to press reporting, the Indian government did not consult or inform the US Government before moving to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status," Alice Wells said in a statement. News website ThePrint had reported that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had briefed his American counterpart, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, about the government's plans to scrap the special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Article 370 Revoked: Nirmal Singh Removes Jammu And Kashmir Flag From Official Vehicle, Watch Video.

According to an NDTV report, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had briefed the UN Security Council's five permanent members - US, China, Britain, France, Russia - about the government's plan for Jammu and Kashmir. "70 years is a long time for something temporary. It lessened accountability, quality of governance and added to separatist sentiment," sources quoted the ministry as saying in the report. Jammu and Kashmir Loses Privileges Under Article 370, Article 35A: What Does it Mean For Kashmiris and Other Indians?

President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday signed an order ending the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, a day after Parliament passed the resolution, along with a bill to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories - Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature and Ladakh without a legislature.

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