Omar, a naturalised U.S. Muslim citizen was born in Somalia

Testimony and witnesses who spoke about human rights abuses were sidelined as lawmakers pilloried India for its heavy-handed approach in Kashmir. Indian officials were clearly taken aback by the largely one-sided narrative of Indian oppression and the lock-down in the Valley without the historical context of Pakistan's use of subversive violence and terrorism to ignite unrest

WASHINGTON: India got a shellacking over the human rights situation in Kashmir Valley as Democrat lawmakers, already leery of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's embrace of US President Donald Trump during a recent rally in Houston, lit into New Delhi during five hours of intense Congressional testimony on Tuesday.

Although the hearing by the House of Representatives subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and Non-Proliferation chaired by California Congressman Brad Sherman was ostensibly on 'Human Rights in South Asia', the proceedings centred mostly on the situation in Kashmir Valley. Testimony and witnesses who spoke about human rights abuses in Pakistan's Sindh province, and concern about the fate of Tamils in Sri Lanka and Baloch in Pakistan (who were not invited to testify), were all sidelined as lawmakers, primed by what some said was pressure from Kashmiri constituents, pilloried India for its heavy-handed approach in the Valley.

Indian officials were clearly taken aback by the largely one-sided narrative of Indian oppression and the lock down in the Valley without the historical context of Pakistan's use of subversive violence and terrorism to ignite unrest, even taking into account the hearing was on human rights, not geopolitics. It was actually left to the US administration officials to point out that Pakistan's continued patronage of terrorism and terror groups were the root cause of what they too acknowledged was a humanitarian crisis.

Notwithstanding the lobbying from separatist Kashmiri constituents that caused lawmakers to focus mainly on the lock down, there was also domestic politics at play at the hearing. It was dominated by Democratic lawmakers who have traditionally been strong human rights votaries, and some of them, according to sources, were already agitated by the Indian Prime Minister's support for a US President they loath.

Although a few Democrats attended the 'Howdy, Modi' rally in Houston last month, several more who had committed to attend stayed away because of reservations about the Modi-Trump bromance. The shadow of that episode fell heavily on Tuesday's hearing on a day things got stickier for President Trump on the impeachment front.

In fact, Congressman Sherman, who held the hearing as chair of the subcommittee, is also co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans, making the dressing down India got all the more unpalatable for New Delhi. Only a couple of Republican lawmakers turned up for the hearing, which was itself a sideshow on the Hill on a day Congress was consumed with hearings on the Syria-Turkey crisis and Brexit, not to speak of explosive testimony on the Ukraine issue.

Still, the focus on the plight of Kashmiri Muslims in the Valley without concurrent attention or concern for Pandits displaced by ethnic cleansing agitated the Indian side, particularly those representing the Hindu perspective. Suhag Shukla, executive director of the Hindu American Foundation, pointed out that committee was agitated about Kashmiris not having internet access, but did not care about the forced conversions of Hindu women in Kashmir or the lack of rights in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

"Not a single @HouseForeign Democrat understands the Hindu perspective on #Kashmir. All antagonistic to India and not a single mention of #KashmiriPandits. We all must process this. The party has turned in this regard," Shukla, who attended the hearing, tweeted, implicitly suggesting a reassessment of the traditionally strong Indian-American support for Democrats.

While Democrat lawmakers were clearly primed by their Pakistani and Kashmiri Muslim constituents with gut-wrenching stories, some of which New Delhi says exaggerated, Indian officials also rued the lack of lobbying from Indian-Americans - particularly the so-called "selfie-seeking Modi Bhakts" who are otherwise vocal on social media and - to put forth the Indian perspective.

However, officials also counted some positives that emerged from the meeting: No Congressman questioned New Delhi's fundamental right to effect constitutional changes that have led to the lock down in the Valley. Lawmakers also appeared to understand that the unrest is restricted to the Valley, and the situation in Jammu and Ladakh, not to speak of the rest of India, home to more than 200 million Muslims, is normal despite the concerns of Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.