Title: Urging the Republic of India to end the restrictions on communications and mass detentions in Jammu and Kashmir as swiftly as possible and preserve religious freedom for all residents.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution recognizes the security challenges faced by India in Jammu and Kashmir. The resolution urges India to employ certain measures to uphold human rights and refrain from the use of violence against minority groups, protestors, and detainees.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 745 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 745

Urging the Republic of India to end the restrictions on communications 
  and mass detentions in Jammu and Kashmir as swiftly as possible and 
             preserve religious freedom for all residents.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            December 6, 2019

   Ms. Jayapal (for herself and Mr. Watkins) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Urging the Republic of India to end the restrictions on communications 
  and mass detentions in Jammu and Kashmir as swiftly as possible and 
             preserve religious freedom for all residents.

Whereas India is the world's largest democracy and has long shared a unique and 
        important relationship with the United States in promoting common values 
        and upholding regional stability;
Whereas India is the birthplace of 4 major world religions, including Hinduism, 
        Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism, is home to the world's third-largest 
        Muslim population, and has a proud Christian population, with three of 
        India's 29 states remaining majority Christian;
Whereas India's Constitution mandates a secular state that upholds the rights of 
        all citizens to the freedoms of religion, expression, and speech and to 
        equal treatment before the law;
Whereas international human rights law holds that all people have the right to 
        freedom of opinion and expression, including freedom to practice, 
        worship, or observe one's own religion;
Whereas, since 1989, Jammu and Kashmir has been the site of a 30-year conflict 
        between the Indian government, local Kashmiris, and militants, that has 
        claimed tens of thousands of lives, exacerbated by disenfranchisement of 
        the local population and external state support for the insurgency;
Whereas, on February 14, 2019, an Indian national and member of a Pakistan-
        based, United States-designated foreign terrorist organization conducted 
        the deadliest terrorist attack against Indian forces since 1989, killing 
        40 security personnel;
Whereas, on August 5, 2019, the Government of India cut all telephone service 
        and internet access in Jammu and Kashmir, the 53rd time the Indian 
        government restricted communication in Kashmir in 2019;
Whereas the Government of India has stated that communications restrictions are 
        required to stop terrorists from communicating with one another;
Whereas the Government of India announced it had restored landline phone service 
        to Jammu and Kashmir on September 5, 2019, and partially restored 
        cellphone service on October 14, 2019;
Whereas 60 percent of the 6,000,000 mobile subscribers in Jammu and Kashmir rely 
        on prepaid cellphones, which remain inoperable for communication, and 
        text messaging and mobile internet services remain suspended;
Whereas people across the United States maintain ties with family and friends in 
        Jammu and Kashmir and have reported difficulty contacting their loved 
        ones since the communications blockade was imposed on August 5, 2019;
Whereas press accounts and human rights observers have documented that the 
        communications restrictions derailed health services in Jammu and 
        Kashmir, with patients reporting difficulty calling ambulances and 
        hospitals, and physicians reporting difficulty accessing critical 
        medicines for advanced stages of disease;
Whereas the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, 
        Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and independent reporters 
        have documented detentions and harassment of journalists in Jammu and 
        Kashmir;
Whereas the Government of India has barred senior United States Government 
        officials and foreign journalists from traveling to Jammu and Kashmir 
        since August 5, 2019;
Whereas international human rights observers have documented the police's use of 
        excessive force against detained people and excessive and indiscriminate 
        use of pellet shotguns, tear gas, and rubber bullets against protesters;
Whereas data from the Government of India found that more than 3,800 people in 
        Jammu and Kashmir were arrested between August 5 and September 6, 2019, 
        2,600 had been released from detention, and prominent political and 
        business leaders remain in detention;
Whereas the Jammu and Kashmir police have acknowledged that 144 children, as 
        young as 9 years old, have been arrested;
Whereas Indian authorities have used the Public Safety Act to preventatively 
        detain people for a broad range of activities that are vaguely defined 
        and without charge for up to 2 years in some cases, including human 
        rights defenders, journalists, political leaders, and people involved in 
        protests;
Whereas India's Public Safety Act violates article 9(2) of the International 
        Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by allowing authorities to not 
        communicate grounds of detention for up to 10 days of detention, and 
        also to withhold any information considered ``to be against the public 
        interest to disclose'';
Whereas photographic evidence indicates that detained people have been required 
        to sign surety bonds forbidding them from making statements or 
        participating in political activities as a condition of their release; 
        and
Whereas the Department of State reports that the security situation in Jammu and 
        Kashmir remains dire, with insurgents and terrorists threatening the 
        lives of civilians, armed forces, police, and government officials: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the dire security challenges faced by the 
        Government and India in Jammu and Kashmir and the continuing 
        threat of state-supported cross-border terrorism;
            (2) rejects arbitrary detention, use of excessive force 
        against civilians, and suppression of peaceful expression of 
        dissent as proportional responses to security challenges;
            (3) urges the Government of India to ensure that any 
        actions taken in pursuit of legitimate security priorities 
        respect the human rights of all people and adhere to 
        international human rights law; and
            (4) urges the Government of India to--
                    (A) lift the remaining restrictions on 
                communication and to restore internet access across all 
                of Jammu and Kashmir as swiftly as possible;
                    (B) refrain from the use of threats and excessive 
                force against detained people and peaceful protesters;
                    (C) swiftly release arbitrarily detained people in 
                Jammu and Kashmir;
                    (D) refrain from conditioning the release of 
                detained people on their willingness to sign bonds 
                prohibiting any political activities and speeches;
                    (E) allow international human rights observers and 
                journalists to access Jammu and Kashmir and operate 
                freely throughout India, without threats; and
                    (F) condemn, at the highest levels, all religiously 
                motivated violence, including that violence which 
                targets against religious minorities.
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