Situation in IIOJK not normalised: US panel

Terms last year's events in Occupied Kashmir 'devastating'

ISLAMABAD:

The Foreign Affairs Committee of US Congress, in a letter to Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, expressed concern over the situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), saying the conditions had "not normalised" there, a year after repealing Article 370.

The letter was written by Chairman of US House Committee on Foreign Affairs Elliot Engel, and the Republican ranking member Michael McCaul on August 5, the first anniversary of Indian illegal action of revoking the special status of the territory.

"We note with concern that conditions in Jammu and Kashmir have not normalized one year after India's repeal of Article 370 and the establishment of Jammu and Kashmir as a Union Territory," the committee members said.

While acknowledging the ongoing serious security and counterterrorism concerns in the region, the senators said they looked forward to working with the Indian government to address those concerns while upholding the shared commitments to the democratic values and freedoms.

On Thursday, in his video message, Senator Robert Menendez, another Ranking Member of the Committee said situation in IIOJK was not what they expected to see in a democracy.

He termed last year's events in IIOJK 'devastating', saying there was no indication of the situation has had impact on relations between India and the US.

Referring to his last year visit to India, the senator said he had expressed his concerns over Kashmir situation with senior Indian leadership. He said, "today people of Kashmir are far away from the vision of secular India".

The Congress had been vocal about the worsening human rights situation in Kashmir as it had already held two hearing in Capitol Hill on the issue.