US hearing on Kashmir part of wider consultations

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 5

A panel of the US House of Representatives will hold a hearing on Kashmir as part of its wider deliberations on the state of human rights in South Asia, according to Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Asia Brad Sherman.

However, the situation in the Kashmir valley will not be the only area of focus. The subcommittee will consider the political and religious freedom dimensions in China (Uyghurs and Hong Kong), Myanmar (Rohingyas), Pakistan (Sindh, Ahmadis and other religious minorities) and Sri Lanka (Tamils). In the hearing on the state of human rights in India, it will also deliberate on East Bengalis as well.

Sherman co-chairs the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian Americans and has always been opposed to any third party mediation in the Kashmir issue. In Fact, he apologised to India when US President Donald Trump had offered to mediate on Kashmir.

The widened ambit of the hearing will mean that India will avoid being cornered over the situation in Kashmir since countries opposing the reorganisation of Jammu & Kashmir – chiefly China and Pakistan – will also be in the dock.

The panel will hear Acting Assistant US Secretary of State Alice Wells, who oversees State Department policy towards South Asia, and Sam Brownback, the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, and other State Department officials. It will also hear from private human rights activists on the issues.

According to Sherman, the hearing will review the treatment of the Rohingya by Myanmar amidst “credible accusations’’ that this minority is subject to ethnic cleansing and genocide. It will also focus on the Kashmir valley, where many political activists have been arrested and daily life, the internet, and telephone communications have been interrupted. “The hearing will also review the humanitarian situation in Kashmir. Are people able to get food, medical care, etc?’’ he said.

The hearing will also focus on the Tamils of Sri Lanka, the human rights situation in Sindh, East Bengals in India, the Ahmadiyas in Pakistan, and other religious minorities.