WASHINGTON: Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells has urged India to respect human rights in occupied Kashmir, ARY News reported on Tuesday.
She was speaking during the hearing on Kashmir by United States House Foreign Affairs Sub-committee on Asia, the Pacific and Non-proliferation, a sub-committee within the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“US supports direct dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi”, Alice Wells said.
Lawmakers including Elliot Engel, Rep Jim Costa, Rep Anthony Brown,Rep Karen Bass, Rep Ilhan Omar, Rep Mike Levin, Rep Tom Malinowski, Rep Ro Khanna, Rep Krishna Murti, Rep Gil Cisnero, Rep Ruben Gallego , Rep TJ Cox, Rep Judy Chu, Rep Jed Van Drew, Rep Tony Cardenas, Rep Jaypal,Rep Alan Loventhal,Rep Ted Lieu and others were attending the hearing.
Attendees exchanged views on the human rights violations in the occupied valley.
“We expressed our concerns regarding Kashmir to India,” said US diplomat and added that “We are closely monitoring the situation in Kashmir.”
Read more: Alice Wells arrives in Islamabad for bilateral talks
Alice Wells said, the US will keep on pressurizing India to lift the communications blockade. Wells said that in a span of two to three months, several thousand people had been arrested.
The hearing’s significance has increased in the wake of India’s reluctance to world community’s call for an end to curfew.
Earlier, on Aug 5, the Indian government revoked the special status for the occupied territory.
It revoked Article 370 of India’s constitution that provided special rights to the Muslim-majority state.
