Kashmiris expect another US Congressional hearing, resolution

WASHINGTON: Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Asad Majeed Khan has appreciated tireless efforts of the Kashmiri diaspora and human rights organisations across the country for moving American lawmakers to hold a special hearing on the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) situation.

Talking to The News on Wednesday, Khan said he along with the organisations that worked to highlight the plight of Kashmiris and resultantly made hearing by the sub-committee possible were expecting another Congressional hearing in the coming weeks, especially because since then most US lawmakers got to know about the dark side of Modi's politics and ongoing Indian atrocities in the IOK.

A handful of organizations, including Pakistan American Political Action Committee, Kashmir Human Rights Foundation, Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America and others, approached the Congress members through letters and personal connections.

The efforts resulted in a special Congressional hearing called by the House Foreign Affairs Sub-committee on South Asian Affairs this week.

Almost all members of the Congress that were present at the hearing admonished the Indian government for its systematic human rights violations in the IOK since August 5th.

“Democracy dies in darkness,” said Brad Sherman, Chairman of the Sub-committee, during the hearing on October 22.

He said India’s actions in Kashmir since its abrogation of the region’s special status and refusal to allow foreign journalists, human rights groups, and even US policy makers into the region, all amounted to a huge cover-up of the dire human rights situation in the region. "A human rights abuse doesn't cease to be a human rights abuse just because it’s being done pursuant to the law or court rulings of the country committing the abuse."

India’s decision “was not cleared with the United States and has led to great concerns for humanitarian conditions in Kashmir,” he said noting that he was hearing directly from his Kashmiri-American constituents about the “severe restrictions” imposed by India and the resulting suffering of the people in the region.

From across the aisle, Republican Ranking Member Ted Yoho spoke about medical shortages in Kashmir, exacerbated by the communications shutdown. He stated, “No one should go through that. There have been reports of communications block in Kashmir, which are … not acceptable to anybody.”

Similarly, Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger expressed her deep concern as to why India had not allowed any US diplomats to enter the region to see what was happening there for themselves. “We have two conflicting accounts of what is happening in Kashmir,” said Spanberger, a former intelligence officer. The first version was what she heard from her Kashmir-American constituents, and an Indian version that has been unverifiable due to Delhi’s refusal to let any foreign media, diplomats or human rights organizations into the IOK.

The Indian-American lawmaker in the US House of Representatives, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, pointed to the mass detention of thousands, including dozens of children in Kashmir without due process under the controversial Public Safety Act.

“The whole detention issue is of huge concern," she said, adding, "This is unacceptable, the detention without charges even in the face of the high court saying this is not appropriate.”

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar asked the fundamental question that all Americans should be asking. At what point do the values America share with a “democracy” like India diverge, especially when “under Modi and the BJP all of these mutual values have been threatened, and we have to understand Kashmir as part of an overall Hindu nationalism project of the BJP.”

Pakistan's ambassador yesterday termed the Congressional hearing "historic", not just in the sense that India was admonished for its illegal actions, but because it was truly the first time that the voices of the people of Kashmir were carried fully and truthfully by members of Congress.

The information these members were provided was communicated on behalf of the people of Kashmir through their Kashmiri and Pakistani Americans, who had mobilised to make sure that the rights and future of the Kashmiri people did not die in the darkness of India’s cover-up.

He also hoped that if the momentum lasted long enough, members of the Congress could introduce a special resolution on the matter.