WASHINGTON: India had refused US Senator Chris Van Hollen entry into occupied Kashmir during his tour to the country.
According to The Washington Post, US Senator Chris Van Hollen visited India earlier this week and requested the authorities to allow him to travel to the valley to verify the New Delhi’s claims of situation in the region.
However, Indian authorities refused the US senator’s request to visit occupied Kashmir.
Hollen said that India should not worry about people visiting the valley if its claims on military curfew and communication blackout are true.
Meanwhile, the military curfew and communication blackout has entered 62nd day on Saturday in the occupied Kashmir.
India has snapped television, telephone and internet links to deter protests over its scrapping of special constitutional status for the region.
In Srinagar, armed police were stationed every few hundred meters as a ban on gatherings of more than four people in public places continued since Aug 5. Educational institutions and most shops in residential neighborhoods were shut.
Shopkeepers said they were running out of stock after days of panic buying.
“No provisions are left in my shop, and no fresh supplies are coming,” said grocery store owner Jehangir Ahmad.
Last month, the chief justice of India had said that he would visit occupied Kashmir, if needed, to check allegations of illegal detention of children by Indian forces in the valley.
