India blocks US Senator Chris Van Hollen from visiting IoK

• "If Indian government has nothing to hide, they should not worry about people visiting Kashmir," Chris said.
• He said this is a moment where transparency is important.

Indian government has refused to give US Senator Chris Van Hollen permission to visit Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK).

The senator said he asked to go to Kashmir so he could see the reality on the ground for himself. However, the Indian government said it was not the appropriate time to visit the valley.“If the Indian government has nothing to hide, they should not worry about people visiting Kashmir and witnessing the situation with their own eyes,” Van Hollen said in an interview, international media reported.

Hollen further said that as the world’s two largest democracies, India and the United States talk a lot about our shared values, Washington Post reported. “I think this is a moment where transparency is important,” he added. Previously, Hollen had proposed a bill that referred explicitly to the restrictions implemented by India.

The bill encouraged enhanced engagement with India on issues of mutual interest but also showed concern at the current humanitarian crisis in Kashmir. The bill called on the Indian government to restore communications and release detainees in the region.

Last month, US senators wrote to President Donald Trump asking him facilitate and urge Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to end the current humanitarian crisis in occupied Kashmir. They urged Trump to immediately intervene to help end the ‘humanitarian crisis’ in the region. The senators also urged the US president to put pressure on Modi to lift curfews and restore telecommunications services in the territory.