India Slams Ilhan Omar for 'Violating' Sovereignty Over Visit to Pakistan-Administered Kashmir

Ilhan Omar has accused Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of discriminating against Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir as well as across the country. Earlier this month, she urged the Biden administration to confront India over its human rights record. Omar is the first US Congresswoman to visit Pakistan since Imran Khan's ouster as PM.

India has taken a strong exception to US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s visit to Muzaffarabad, the capital city of Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir region.

“We have noted that she has visited a part of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which is currently illegally occupied by Pakistan. If such a politician wishes to practise her narrow-minded politics at home, that’s her business,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said during his weekly media briefing on Thursday.

“But violating our territorial integrity and sovereignty in its pursuit makes it ours. The visit is condemnable,” the Indian official added.

The strong remarks by the Indian Foreign Ministry came hours after Omar, a Democrat representative from Minnesota, called upon President of ‘Azad Jammu and Kashmir’ (the Pakistan administered Kashmir region) Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry.

According to the press release by the presidential secretariat, Omar “condemned” India’s “human rights’ violations” in Jammu and Kashmir during her meeting.

India and Pakistan both control part of the Jammu and Kashmir region, but each claim that the entire region is theirs.

Omar also said that she would not only raise the Kashmir issue in the US Congress, but also take it up with US President Joe Biden

“She said that her understanding of the Kashmir issue had been improved with the current visit,” stated the release.

During the meeting, the Pakistani delegate accused India of “altering the demography” of Jammu and Kashmir by issuing around 420 million domicile certificates to Hindus from outside Jammu and Kashmir.

“We are stressed by India’s move in Kashmir on 5 August, 2019,” states the Pakistani release, a reference to New Delhi’s decision to temporarily scrap the semi-autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir. Back in 2019, New Delhi also bifurcated the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two federally administered territories —Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The move has been rejected by Pakistan and China.

Chaudhry also sought US mediation in the Kashmir dispute, a proposition which has been rejected by New Delhi on many occasions in the past.

Omar is on a four-day visit to Pakistan that kicked off on 20 April.

So far, she has met President Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar as well as former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

An official release by Pakistan’s Press Information Department (PID) stated that Khar “appreciated the strong voice that Congresswoman Ilhan has raised against Indian atrocities” in Jammu and Kashmir.

India has never recognised Pakistan’s sovereignty over the northern parts of Kashmir, most of which was taken over by Islamist militias in 1947, months after the subcontinental neighbours declared their independence from British rule.

Back then, Jammu and Kashmir was among hundreds of princely states given the option of either being with New Delhi or Islamabad.

Initially hesitant to join either India or Pakistan, its then-ruler Hari Singh signed the "Instrument of Accession" with New Delhi in October 1947 after an invasion by Pakistani Islamist militants which was meant to take control of the Muslim-majority region.

India's then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wrote to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) demanding an end to Pakistan's "aggression" in the region, which was followed by the UNSC passing Resolution 47.

UNSC Resolution 47 calls for the withdrawal of Pakistan's "proxies" from the region, followed by a phased withdrawal of Indian troops, which would then pave the way for conducting a plebiscite there.