Kashmir to figure again in US hearing

NEW DELHI: Barely three weeks after a hearing on Kashmir, the issue is set to figure again in the US Congress with a bipartisan caucus convening a session on Thursday to examine the human rights situation in the wake of the revocation of the former state’s special status.

The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, named after the late member of the US House of Representatives, has convened the hearing to look at the rights situation in Jammu and Kashmir in “historical and national context”.

There was no immediate reaction to the development from Indian officials. However, India has said in the past that such hearings displayed a “limited understanding” of the rights of citizens and the functioning of the largest democracy.

The witnesses called by the commission include Anurima Bhargava, head of the US commission on international religious freedom, Haley Duschinski, one of the founders of Critical Kashmir Studies Collective, Sehla Ashai, a human rights lawyer associated with the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in

America,

Yousra Fazili, a human rights lawyer and cousin of Mubeen Shah, a detained Kashmiri businessman, human rights lawyer Arjun Singh Sethi and John Sifton of Human Rights Watch.

Many of the witnesses have been critical of the changes in Kashmir and the Indian government.

While Western countries have expressed understanding of India’s August 5 decision to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and to split it into two union territories, the US and several members of the European Union, including Germany and Finland, have conveyed their concern at the continuing security lockdown and communications blackout in the region.

At a hearing convened in October by the US House committee on foreign affairs, the acting assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs, Alice Wells, and assistant secretary Robert Destro of the bureau of democracy and human rights acknowledged the “absolute hardship” faced by Kashmiris.

Wells also said the US had urged Indian authorities to respect human rights and restore full access to services, including internet and mobile networks.