WASHINGTON: A panel of the US Senate UU. He has attached an amendment to a finance bill that requires India to end its blockade and curfew in retained Kashmir and completely restore communications links to the occupied valley.
The amendment, attached to the Foreign Allocations Act for 2020, was submitted to the Senate Appropriations Committee, and is considered as the first step towards the United States legislative action against India on its annexation of occupied lands on 5 of August.
The committee, while encouraging a greater US commitment to India on matters of mutual interest, noted "with concern the current humanitarian crisis in Kashmir."
And he asked the government of India to: “(1) completely restore telecommunications and Internet services; (2) lift your lock and curfew; and (3) release detainees in accordance with the government's revocation of article 370 of the Indian constitution. "
Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Karachi-born Democrat from Maryland, proposed the amendment, which seeks to highlight India's humanitarian situation in Kashmir. Senator Lindsey Graham, a key Republican leader known for his close ties to President Donald Trump, presented the report in the Senate.
Senator Van Hollen also visited New Delhi this week as part of a congressional delegation that discussed the Kashmir dispute and relations between the United States and India with key Indian officials. On Friday, he told reporters in New Delhi that the Indian government had denied his request to visit Kashmir to review the situation there.
He also said that the United States Washington was "closely monitoring the humanitarian situation" in Kashmir. The House Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on human rights in South Asia later this month, and Kashmir is expected to take up much of the proceedings.
The document urging India to immediately reverse its illegal actions in Kashmir was presented on September 26, a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the UN General Assembly.
In an interview with India The Hindu Earlier this week, Senator Van Hollen said the amendment was "unanimously accepted by the bipartisan committee" and was "a strong expression of concern by the Senate about the situation in Kashmir."
The amendment, he added, "sends the signal that we are closely monitoring the human rights situation there and would like to see the Indian government take those concerns seriously." He said he had "hoped to share his concerns privately" with Prime Minister Modi but had not been able to find him.
Mr. Van Hollen also met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of India, S. Jaishankar, in Washington last week and shared with him his concerns about Kashmir.
Senator Bob Menendez, who was also part of the delegation that visited India this week, met this week with the Minister of Commerce and Industries of India, Piyush Goyal, in Delhi. Since August 5, both senators have made public statements about the situation in Kashmir.
The Hindu reported that Senator Van Hollen was denied permission to visit Srinagar because New Delhi did not allow foreigners to visit the region.
An Indian official told the newspaper that "no foreign diplomat or journalist has received authorization to visit Kashmir since the government's decision on Article 370 on August 5".
Since then, US lawmakers have urged President Trump to use his influence to end the humanitarian crisis in Kashmir.
One of them, Senator Bob Casey, said recently that India's changes in the state of Jammu and Kashmir were a "drastic change" of decades of precedents and policies.
Posted in Dawn, October 6, 2019
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1509261/amendment-to-us-finance-bill-urges-india-to-lift-kashmir-siege