Watch Ilhan Omar's past attacks on India, PM Modi amid face-off over US lawmaker's PoK trip

American lawmaker Ilhan Omar has angered India by actions aimed at legitimising Pakistan's illegal occupation of a part of Jammu and Kashmir. But her recent trip to Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir is not the first time that she has tried to interfere in the J&K dispute between India and Pakistan. In recent years, Omar has been on a constant campaign to paint India as a hell for the Muslim community.

In October 2019, months after the Indian government scrapped Jammu and Kashmir's special status, she targeted the Modi government at a Congressional hearing. She said, "Under Modi and the BJP government, all of these mutual values have been threatened. And I think we have to understand the situation in Kashmir as part of an overall Hindu nationalism project of the BJP. The situation in Assam is as bad as Kashmir, if not worse. In both cases, the impunity we have seen for crimes against Muslims under the BJP was warming for such worse things to come. There have been official statements to the effect that no Buddhist, Christian, Sikh, or Jain refugees need to worry about their status. This is a clear anti-Muslim programme. At what point, do we no longer share values with India? Are we waiting for the Muslims in Assam to be put in those camps?"

Then, in early April 2022, Ilhan Omar compared PM Modi to dictators like Augusto Pinochet, under whom Chile saw extreme political violence. She said, "What worries me is that this time, we seem willing to let Modi be our new Pinochet.How are we promoting a free and open region by supporting Modi? Why has the Biden administration been so reluctant to criticise Modi's government on human rights? What will it take? How much does the Modi administration have to criminalise the act of being Muslim in India for us to say something?"

Ilhan Omar's latest tour of Pakistan and PoK led to a sharp reaction from India. It forced the US government to clarify that Omar was on a personal trip to Pakistan, and not an official tour.