US says lawmaker Ilhan Omar's PoK visit was personal and unofficial

Derek Chollet, the counselor to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said lawmaker Ilhan Omar's visit to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) did not represent the US government. He said that her visit was "unofficial and personal".

The Democratic Congresswoman is currently on a four-day visit to Pakistan. She met with recently ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. After the visit to PoK, she told the media that Kashmir should get more attention from the United States. "I don't believe that it (Kashmir) is being talked about to the extent it needs to in Congress but also with the administration," reported ANI.

The Indian government had condemned the statement and the visit. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told the media that Omar can practice her narrow-minded politics at home but the visit to PoK is a violation of India's "territorial integrity and sovereignty."

The US government assured that Omar's visit does not represent any policy change on behalf of the United States government. Her meeting with Imran Khan has been criticised because he has accused Washington of conspiring to overthrow his government.

Omar represents Minnesota in the US House of Representatives and is the first naturalised citizen of African birth to sit in the US Congress. She has openly criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and questioned US President Joe Biden for not criticising the Indian government over its actions against Muslim minorities.

She recently raised her voice against the United States's history of getting close to "undemocratic leaders" as a strategy to show strength in numbers against an adversary. She was testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.