The Indian external affairs ministry has blamed a US congressional committee for the cancellation of a meeting its leadership was scheduled to have had with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on the sidelines of his visit here earlier this week for the second 2+2 ministerial dialogue.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee had added Indian American lawmaker Pramila Jayapal to the list of lawmakers who would attend the meeting “without seeking consent” and that the committee had changed the conditions of the meeting by “unilaterally bringing a non-member”, a source said, and added, “No Foreign Minister of any independent country should be pressurised into meeting such politicians with their own agendas.”

Jayapal, who was born in Chennai, has been extremely and publicly critical of the restrictions in Kashmir since the August 5 abrogation of Article 370 and rights of religious minorities in India generally. She spoke forcefully about these issues at a recent congressional hearing and at another called by a congressionally-mandated body and has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives calling upon India to undo the restrictions.

The external affairs minister had sought meetings with leaderships of the foreign affairs committee of the House of Representatives and the Senate during his visit to discuss issues that India has wanted to raise on Capitol Hill and also address those that have agitated American lawmakers such as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the Kashmir development.

But the meeting with the leadership of the HFAC did not take place. The minister had met with the leadership of a subcommittee of the HFAC the night before over dinner at the residence of Indian ambassador to the US Harsh Vardhan Shringla. Ami Bera, the Indian American lawmaker, who has taken over the chairmanship of the subcommittee in recent days, was conveyed the changed circumstances of the HFAC meeting.