U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen has been refused permission to visit Kashmir by the Government of India. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Home Affairs did not respond to a query about Van Hollen’s inability to visit Kashmir.
About 50 members of the US Congress, including Sen. Chris Van Hollen, have expressed concern over the situation in Kashmir. Van Hollen, a Democrat who represents Maryland, said he asked to go to Kashmir so he could see the reality on the ground for himself.
According to several reports in Indian and overseas media, the Indian Government has deployed hundreds of thousands of its security forces in Kashmir, shut down Internet access and mobile phone service, arrested more than 3,000 people, including hundreds of children, and detained nearly all of the region’s political leadership.
“If the Indian government has nothing to hide, they should not worry about people visiting Kashmir and witnessing the situation with their own eyes,” Van Hollen said in an interview Friday in New Delhi.
As the world’s two largest democracies, India and the United States “talk a lot about our shared values,” he said. “I think this is a moment where transparency is important.”
Foreign journalists have not been allowed by the Indian government to report in Kashmir since Aug. 5, 2019.
According to The Washington Post, Last month, Van Hollen proposed an amendment to an appropriations bill that referred explicitly to the restrictions implemented by India. While encouraging “enhanced engagement with India on issues of mutual interest,” it also noted “with concern the current humanitarian crisis in Kashmir” and called on the Indian government to restore communications and release detainees.
The amendment was adopted unanimously by the Senate Appropriations Committee, and the bill is likely to receive a full vote in the Senate in the next several weeks. Later this month, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on human rights in South Asia, in which Kashmir will be a focus, reported The Washington Post.
“There’s a lot going on in Washington, but I believe concern is rising about the situation in Kashmir,” said Van Hollen. His conversations during his two-day visit to India “have only heightened” such concerns.
