US senators seeking Assessment Of Human Rights situation In J&K Should Be Reprimanded By Rajya Sabha
President Donald Trump’s maiden visit to India has been finally cleared by New Delhi. However four US senators pretending to be “ influential “ and claiming to be “longtime friends of India”, have sought an assessment of the human rights situation in Kashmir and religious freedom in the country. As per these ignorants hundreds of Kashmiris remain in “preventive detention”.
These Senators need to first go and inspect Camps in United States where they are keeping thousands of Mexicans under detention and then only make comments on other countries.
This bipartisan group of senators, in their letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dated February 12, said that India has now imposed the longest-ever internet shutdown by a democracy, disrupting access to medical care, business and education for seven million people. They must be taking their own Minister also as big a fool as themselves.
The abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5, 2019 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir is totally an internal matter of a Sovereign India.
The Government of India also imposed curbs including on movement of people as well as on mobile telephone and internet connectivity as a considered decision.
Before criticizing these Senators should go through their own record of how their Government reacted in panic when just one building had been destroyed by a few terrorists.
The criticism from a few countries with vested interests, expressing concerns over the situation in Kashmir has been rightly ignored by India. The Government of India has categorically told the international community that its move to scrap Article 370 was an internal matter.
According to officials, internet is being restored in the Valley in a phased manner after reviewing the security situation.
The US lawmakers, describing themselves as “longtime friends of India”, wrote in the letter that “more than six months after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government unilaterally revoked the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, the government continues to block most internet in the region”.
“Hundreds of Kashmiris remain in ‘preventive detention’, including key political figures,” they said. Signatories to the letter are Chris Van Hollen, Todd Young, Richard J Durbin and Lindsey O Graham.
These Senators have also gone ahead to write “In addition, the Indian government has taken other troubling steps that threaten the rights of certain religious minorities and the secular character of the state. This includes the passage of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act which is being challenged in India’s Supreme Court.”
In the letter, the Senators requested Pompeo for a State Department assessment of a number of issues in India including the number of individuals detained by the government for political purposes and their treatment; current restrictions on communications in Jammu and Kashmir; current accessibility of Jammu and Kashmir; and restrictions on religious freedoms in Jammu and Kashmir.
Such high headedness has just one solution. That is some sense needs to be knocked in. The best way us to officially reprimand these Senators in the Rajaya Sabha for questioning an Act which has been passed by both the houses of the Indian Parliament.
Trump is going to be on a state visit to India on February 24 and 25 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who on Wednesday said the US President’s visit will be a “very special one” and it will go a long way in further cementing India-USA friendship.
However such behavior on part of the American Senators may lead to the President getting a very cold reception in India. Also such behavior will certainly not be conducive to good relationship between the two countries.
The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including its minority communities. India is a vibrant democracy where the Constitution provides protection of religious freedom, and where democratic governance and rule of law further promote and protect fundamental rights.
According to the CAA, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 following religious persecution there will get Indian citizenship.
The new law will not deny any citizenship rights, but has been brought to protect the oppressed minorities of neighbouring countries and give them citizenship. On the CAA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month said that the law is not about taking away citizenship, it is about giving citizenship.
“We must all know that any person of any religion from any country of the world who believes in India and its Constitution can apply for Indian citizenship through due process. There’s no problem in that,” he said.
India a Sovereign Country now has the WILL to defend its Sovereign decisions. The elephant will not be bothered by barking of street dogs any more.
