India condemns US Congresswoman's visit to POK, terms it 'narrow-minded politics'

"She visited a part of J&K currently illegally occupied by Pakistan. If such a politician wishes to practice her narrow-minded politics at home that may be her business, but violating our territorial integrity in its pursuit makes this ours. Condemnable", said MEA.

New Delhi: India on Thursday condemned the visit of US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Addressing the weekly media briefing here, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "She visited a part of J&K currently illegally occupied by Pakistan. If such a politician wishes to practice her narrow-minded politics at home that may be her business, but violating our territorial integrity in its pursuit makes this ours. Condemnable".

Ilhan Omar has been on a visit to Pakistan since early Wednesday and has met former Prime Minister Imran Khan among other engagements as well as visited a part of PoK. The 37-year-old Omar belongs to the Democrats and represents the State of Minnesota in Congress. She is one of the two Muslim women elected to the US Congress in 2018. Born in Somalia, she and her family fled the country's civil war when she was eight. The family spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the United States in the 1990s. In 1997, she moved to Minneapolis with her family.

During the MEA briefing, the spokesperson also condemned the recent school attacks in Afghanistan's Kabul saying that "As regards Afghanistan, we have seen some of the terrorist attacks, we have always been forthright in our condemnation of terrorist attacks." "We haven't issued a formal statement yet. We are looking at what exactly have been the developments there, but let me emphasize that we have certainly condemned all terrorist attacks, particularly in Afghanistan and I think we reiterate that stand," the MEA spokesperson said.