[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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