Pakistan, Oct. 23 -- India 's efforts to restrict access to Jammu and Kashmir are "unproductive," the top U.S. diplomat for human rights said Tuesday.

"No we don't think it's helpful," Robert Destro, the State Department's assistant secretary for human rights, told a congressional subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation. "It's actually counterproductive."

India-administered Jammu and Kashmir has been under a near-complete lock down since New Delhi's move on Aug. 5, to scrap the special status of the region previously codified in the Indian Constitution's Article 370.

Several rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have repeatedly called on India to lift restrictions and release political deta...