Following
her visit to Pakistan occupied Kashmir, Ilhan Omar, a Somali American who is a member of President
Joe Biden‘s Democratic Party, remarked, “Kashmir should get more attention
from the United States,” prompting India’s harsh rebuke.
However,
according to an official, US Lawmaker Ilhan Omar’s meeting with Pakistani
Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was recently ousted, and her “unofficial,
personal” tour to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, or PoK, did not represent the
US government in any way whatsoever.
Regardless, Omar’s visit to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir has been criticized by India
as a violation of the country’s ‘territorial integrity and sovereignty’, as well
as a reflection of her “narrow-minded politics”.
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So,
who is Ilhan Omar after all?
Ilhan
Abdullahi Omar, an American politician and member of the
Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is currently serving as the United States
Representative for Minnesota’s 5th congressional district since 2019.
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Early
Life
Omar
was born on October 4, 1982, in Mogadishu, Somalia, the second youngest of seven siblings.
Her father, Nur Omar Mohamed, an ethnic Somali, served in the Somali army
under Siad Barre as a colonel.
Her family, including her fled Somalia in 1991 to escape the Somali Civil War and spent
four years in Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, near the Somali border. They were granted refuge in the United States in 1995, and she became a
citizen of the United States in 2000, when she was 17 years old.
Omar received her bachelor’s degree in political science and international studies from
North Dakota State University in 2011 and was also a Policy Fellow at the Humphrey
School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
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Career
Omar’s professional career began in 2006 with her working as a community nutrition educator at the
University of Minnesota, in the Greater Minneapolis–Saint Paul
area till 2009. From 2012 to 2013, she worked as a child nutrition outreach coordinator
for the Minnesota Department of Education. Omar
initially worked as campaign manager and then as Senior Policy Aide
to Andrew Johnson on the Minneapolis City Council from 2013 through 2015.
As of September 2015, Omar
was appointed the Director of Policy Initiatives for the Women Organizing Women Network, through which she encouraged East African women to undertake civic and
political leadership roles. In fact, in 2018, she was labelled as a “progressive rising star” by Roll Call’s Jeff Cirillo.
Omar
announced her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives from
Minnesota’s 5th congressional district on June 5, 2018. With 78 percent of the
vote, she became the first ever Somali American woman elected to the United States
Congress, the first woman of color to represent Minnesota in the U.S. Congress, and also one
of the first Muslim women elected Congress.
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Omar secured the highest percentage of votes of any female candidate for U.S. House in
state history, as well as the highest percentage of votes of any non-incumbent
candidate for U.S. House in state history. Her grandfather’s copy of the
Quran was used to swear her in.
Following
Omar’s victory, the House of Representatives’ ban on head coverings was lifted,
and she became the first ever woman to wear a hijab on the House floor. She’s also member of “The Squad,” an informal group whose members band together
to push for progressive policies like the ‘Green New Deal’ and ‘Medicare for All.’
Omar
led a group of 13 House members in initiating articles of impeachment against Donald Trump on grounds of high crimes and misdemeanors on January 7, 2021. The
allegations stem from Trump’s alleged meddling in Georgia’s 2020 presidential
election and incitement of his fans to attack the United States Capitol in
Washington, D.C. during the 2020
presidential election, which confirmed Joe Biden‘s victory.
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Political
Stance
Omar
has frequently condemned Saudi Arabia’s human rights violations and its interruption in Yemen, China‘s
treatment of its ethnic Uyghur people, the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka in
2019, and Israel’s role in the Israel-Palestine conflict, among other things.
Omar has also criticized US foreign policy, calling for a reduction in
financing for “perpetual war and military aggression.”
Current
Scenario
The
Democratic Congresswoman is now in Pakistan for a four-day tour, since April 20. She met Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday and also toured
a portion of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Omar,
a Somali-American who is a member of President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party,
claimed after her visit to PoK that “Kashmir should get more attention
from the US,” which India strongly condemned.
“I
don’t believe that it (Kashmir) is being talked about to the extent it needs to
in Congress but also with the administration,” Omar told reporters
following her visit to PoK.
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“It’s
an unofficial personal visit,” Derek Chollet, counsellor to US Secretary
of State Antony Blinken, told ANI. “It does not represent any policy
change on behalf of the United States government.”
Back
to a press conference in New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson
Arindam Bagchi condemned her visit to PoK “Let me just say that if such a
politician wishes to practice her narrow-minded politics at home, that’s her
business. But violating our territorial integrity and sovereignty… makes this
ours, and we think the visit is condemnable,” Mr. Bagchi explained.
Omar,
who represents Minnesota in the US House of Representatives, is the first
American legislator to visit Pakistan since the new government took office. Her
visit with Imran Khan at his Bani Gala residence has been criticized, as the
former Pakistan Prime Minister had accused Washington of plotting to
destabilize his administration.
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She
has been an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and has
previously questioned Biden administration about their
“failure” to criticize the Indian government on human rights issues
and its treatment of India’s Muslim minorities.
