Indian troops martyred three more Kashmiri youths in Pulwama district of the occupied valley in their fresh act of state terrorism on Wednesday.
Indian troops martyred the Kashmiris during a cordon and search operation at Rajpora in Tral area of the district. On the other hand, life remains paralyzed in occupied Kashmir and Muslim-majority areas of Jammu region for the 80th consecutive day amid unprecedented military clampdown.
Earlier, the United States renewed calls on India to ease its clampdown in Kashmir as several lawmakers voiced anger at actions by a country that usually enjoys robust US support.
During a congressional hearing on human rights in South Asia, nearly all lawmakers focused questions on India, which rescinded Kashmir’s decades-old autonomous status in August.
Alice Wells, the assistant secretary of state for South Asia, said that India’s annexation of the occupied lands had not changed America’s position on held Kashmir, as it continues to consider it a disputed territory. “We consider the Line of Control (LoC) a de facto line separating two parts of Kashmir,” said Wells. “We recognise de facto administrations on both sides of LoC.”
She was responding to a question from the panel’s chairman, Congressman Brad Sherman who asked her if India’s Aug 5 decision to annex the occupied territories had also affected the US position on held Kashmir and if Washington now saw LoC as an international border. He also asked her if Washington still saw held Kashmir as a disputed territory. “We do not take position on the type of administration either by India or Pakistan,” said Wells when Sherman asked her if the US agreed with India’s decision to merge held Kashmir.
She also said the United States “remains concerned” about the impact of India’s actions in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley.
“We have urged Indian authorities to respect human rights and restore full access to services, including internet and mobile networks,” she told a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee.
She said that the United States was also concerned about the detention of residents including mainstream political leaders and about impediments to both local and foreign media coverage.
In a written statement she shared with the panel, Wells said that the security situation in India-held Kashmir remained tense and clashes between youth and security forces were a regular occurrence.
The first official US assessment of the situation in the occupied valley also stressed the need for resuming India-Pakistan dialogue, but claimed that Islamabad’s alleged support to some terrorist groups had stalled the talks.
Both points were included in a written policy statement Wells shared with the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. The panel held the first Congressional hearing on the situation in Kashmir since Aug 5.
Stressing the need for resuming India-Pakistan dialogue, the policy paper noted, “Restarting a productive bilateral dialogue requires building trust, and the chief obstacle remains Pakistan’s continued support for extremist groups that engage in cross-border terrorism.”
While encouraging Pakistan to do more to curb terrorists, the department added, “We welcomed Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent unambiguous statement that terrorists from Pakistan who carry out violence in Kashmir are enemies of both Kashmiris and Pakistan.”
Ms Wells informed the panel that Washington had closely monitored the situation in Jammu and Kashmir following India’s Aug 5 decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Indian constitution and create two new union territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The United States supports India’s desire to increase economic development in Kashmir, but “remains concerned about the situation in the valley, where daily life for the nearly eight million residents has been severely impacted since August 5.”
The statement noted that conditions in Jammu and Ladakh had improved, but “the valley has not returned to normal”. The State Department has raised concerns with the Indian government regarding the detentions of local residents and political leaders, including three former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir, Wells added.
“We have urged Indian authorities to respect human rights and restore full access to services, including internet and mobile networks,” she said, noting that while post-paid mobile service had been restored in the valley, internet access remained intermittent.
