US lawmakers term Kashmir annexation 'disaster'.

Byline: Anwar Iqbal

WASHINGTON -- The Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) is facing a 'humanitarian crisis' and India's Aug 5 decision to annex the 'disputed' territory has been a 'disaster' for Kashmiris, observes a US Congressional panel.

These observations were made at a daylong hearing of a House subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific on Tuesday, described by the Indian media as 'the most critical examination that any Indian action has received in a panel of US House of Representatives since the 1998 nuclear tests.'

At least, three lawmakers, Ilhan Omar, Tom Malinowski and David Cicilline, asked US officials testifying before the panel, whether the Indian government's motivation behind the recent Kashmir decision was national security or an ultra-nationalist and majoritarian agenda.

'To what extent is this a result of the BJP and RSS, particularly RSS, ... ultra-nationalist sentiment, driving this effort and this assault in Kashmir?' asked Congressman Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat. 'What are we doing to combat that and help them recognise that this is not an appropriate way to behave in a democracy?'

'The revocation of Article 370 has long been a mainstay of the BJP political platform. So, when PM Modi won majority in this latest election, in which 67 per cent of Indians participated, the government quickly and without consultations with us, (moved) to implement it,' US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice G Wells responded.

'The revocation is a little bit of a canard ..., we are not taking a position on Article 370, we are taking a position on whether Kashmiris can live in dignity and have a full economic and political life,' she added.

Congressman Cicilline asked if Indian security forces had used pellet guns on Kashmiris after Aug 5 and whether children blinded by these guns were away and their families did not know where they were. Ms Wells promised to look into the report.

The panel's chairman, Congressman Brad Sherman, questioned India's claim that it cut-off Kashmir from the rest of the world to prevent cross-border terrorist attacks.

Mr Sherman asked whether there had been any 'verified cross-border terrorism' incidents since Aug 5, when India changed the status of occupied Kashmir.

Ms Wells stated that she was 'hearing different stories from different sides' but 'we have observed a decline in incidents of infiltration.'

This observation contradicts the Indian claim that there has been a build-up...