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