JE News Desk: US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti, who was in Kolkata on Thursday, said that his country is ready to help in dealing with the on-going violence in Manipur. Although, he also said that US assistance will only be extended only if India asks for it.

"I don't think it's about strategic concerns, it's about human concerns. You don't have to be an Indian to care when children or individuals die in this sort of violence," Garcetti, who was taking questions from media persons, said. He was asked whether the US was concerned about the violence in Manipur.

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"We stand ready to assist in any ways if asked. We know it's an Indian matter and we pray for that peace and that it may come quickly," he added.

His comments in the matter have drawn a reaction from the Congress. “To the best of my recollection going back at least 4 decades in Public life I have never heard a US Ambassador making a statement of this nature about the internal affairs of India,” Congress’ Manish Tiwari said in a tweet.

“We faced Challenges in Punjab, J&K , North East over the decades and surmounted those with sagacity & wisdom. Even when Robin Raphel would be loquacious on J&K in the 1990’s the US Ambassador’s in India were circumspect,”  he added.

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Loquacious, according to the Oxford dictionary, means a tendency to talk a lot. Robin Raphel is a former American diplomat, ambassador, CIA analyst, lobbyist, and an expert on Pakistan affairs. It is alleged that she was against India’s poisition on the Kashmir issue.

She reportedly had wielded immense influence on America’s foreign policy and her lobbying also strained India-US ties.

“I doubt if the New @USAmbIndia @ericgarcetti is cognisant of the convoluted & torturous history of US-India relations & our sensitivity about interference perceived or real, well intentioned or mal intentioned into our internal affairs,” Manish Tewari added.

So far more than 120 lives have been claimed in the violence that has gripped Manipur since early May. Over 50,000 people have had to leave their homes in the state and to take shelter in camps set up by Indian Army.

Hundreds of companies of the Central Reserved Police Force have been across Manipur. Additionally, thousands of personnel of Indian Army’s Assam Rifles have also been deployed in the state.