Trump’s India visit: Four Senators write to Mike Pompeo on Kashmir, CAA and NRC Sriram LakshmanWASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 14, 2020 02:54 IST UPDATED: FEBRUARY 14, 2020 09:45 IST SHARE ARTICLE 12PRINTA A A Senator. Chris Van Hollen. File Senator. Chris Van Hollen. File | Photo Credit: AP The letter dated February 12 is co-signed by Democrats Chris Van Hollen and Democratic Whip Dick Durbin and Republicans Todd Young and Trump ally Lindsey Graham. Days before U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to India, four Senators, who have described themselves as “longtime friends of India”, have written to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asking for an assessment of the situation in Kashmir as well as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizenship (NRC). ALSO READ President Donald Trump shakes hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the ‘Howdy Modi: Shared Dreams, Bright Futures’ event on Sept. 22, 2019, in Houston. U.S. President Donald Trump to visit India on February 24 and 25: White House The letter dated February 12 is co-signed by Democrats Chris Van Hollen (Maryland) and Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Illinois) and Republicans Todd Young (Indiana) and Trump ally Lindsey Graham (South Carolina). “We write as longtime friends of India regarding some of the troubling actions taken by the current government,” the Senators write. “India has now imposed the longest-ever internet shut down by a democracy, disrupting access to medical care, business, and education for seven million people. Hundreds of Kashmiris remain in ‘preventative detention’, including key political figures.” The letter asks for an assessment in 30 days of the number of individuals detained in connection with Article 370 and “whether detainees endure torture or other forms of mistreatment”. Also read: Will accord Trump a memorable welcome, says PM Modi It also asks for an assessment of restrictions on religious freedoms and communications in Jammu and Kashmir, access to the region by independent observers, foreign journalists, foreign diplomats, consular agents and international organisations and NGOs. Finally, the letter seeks an assessment of, “the number of individuals... at risk of statelessness, arbitrary deprivation or denial of nationality, expulsion or arbitrary detention pursuant to the Government of India’s latest National Register of Citizens list, and any excessive use of force by Indian authorities against demonstrators opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act.”

Trump’s India visit: Four Senators write to Mike Pompeo on Kashmir, CAA and NRC
Sriram LakshmanWASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 14, 2020 02:54 IST
UPDATED: FEBRUARY 14, 2020 09:45 IST
SHARE ARTICLE 12PRINTA A A
Senator. Chris Van Hollen. File
Senator. Chris Van Hollen. File   | Photo Credit: AP

The letter dated February 12 is co-signed by Democrats Chris Van Hollen and Democratic Whip Dick Durbin and Republicans Todd Young and Trump ally Lindsey Graham.
Days before U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to India, four Senators, who have described themselves as “longtime friends of India”, have written to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asking for an assessment of the situation in Kashmir as well as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizenship (NRC).

ALSO READ
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the ‘Howdy Modi: Shared Dreams, Bright Futures’ event on Sept. 22, 2019, in Houston.
U.S. President Donald Trump to visit India on February 24 and 25: White House


The letter dated February 12 is co-signed by Democrats Chris Van Hollen (Maryland) and Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Illinois) and Republicans Todd Young (Indiana) and Trump ally Lindsey Graham (South Carolina).

“We write as longtime friends of India regarding some of the troubling actions taken by the current government,” the Senators write. “India has now imposed the longest-ever internet shut down by a democracy, disrupting access to medical care, business, and education for seven million people. Hundreds of Kashmiris remain in ‘preventative detention’, including key political figures.”

The letter asks for an assessment in 30 days of the number of individuals detained in connection with Article 370 and “whether detainees endure torture or other forms of mistreatment”.

Also read: Will accord Trump a memorable welcome, says PM Modi

It also asks for an assessment of restrictions on religious freedoms and communications in Jammu and Kashmir, access to the region by independent observers, foreign journalists, foreign diplomats, consular agents and international organisations and NGOs.

Finally, the letter seeks an assessment of, “the number of individuals... at risk of statelessness, arbitrary deprivation or denial of nationality, expulsion or arbitrary detention pursuant to the Government of India’s latest National Register of Citizens list, and any excessive use of force by Indian authorities against demonstrators opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act.”