India Thursday condemned US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s visit to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and said her “narrow-minded politics” violated its “territorial integrity and sovereignty”.
On a four-day visit to Pakistan from April 20 to April 24, the Congresswoman has met Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and former PM Imran Khan, and also visited Muzaffarabad in PoK.
Arindam Bagchi, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson for India, said: “We have noted that US Representative Ilhan Omar has visited a part of the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir that is currently illegally occupied by Pakistan. If such a politician wishes to practice her narrow-minded politics at home, that may be her business. But violating our territorial integrity and sovereignty in its pursuit makes it ours. This visit is condemnable.”
Omar, a Democratic Congresswoman, had earlier made headlines in India after she asked why the Biden administration was so reluctant to criticise the Modi government on the issue of human rights. Omar has, in the past, accused India of pursuing an anti-Muslim policy.
The US Congresswoman, in Muzaffarabad, said the United States Foreign Affairs Committee had previously held hearings to investigate the reports of human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir and had discussed the anti-Muslim rhetoric and its effects in India.
The democratic leader, apart from meetings with the political leadership in Islamabad, will also be visiting Lahore on her four-day visit to Pakistan.
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