US lawmakers expressed concern once again with restrictions and detentions in Jammu and Kashmir at a highly partisan hearing on Thursday of a congressionally-mandated human rights body that has been charged with fielding a “lopsided ” panel of witnesses, most of whom are known for their virulent hostility to India.

Wiser by that experience, the Indian embassy was better organised this time. It tried to reach out to the more than 80 lawmakers on the Tom Lantos Human Rights Committee, which held the Thursday hearing.

It briefed the official star witness, Arunima Bhargava of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, thoroughly, and pushed Indian Americans to lobby their respective lawmakers and make sure at least one witness would be “fair and balanced”.

The strategy appears to have worked. The effort was to “level the playing field”, said Harsh Vardhan Shringla, the Indian ambassador to the United States.

Sunanda Vashisht, a writer and Kashmiri Pandit, turned out to be India’s best defence at the hearing. “This is a lopsided panel,” she said at one stage, exasperated at the interventions from fellow panellists.

A senior member of the commission, who has been largely accused of calling a “second hearing in a short period of time” on India, is said to have “apologised” to Vashisht after the hearing for the constitution of the panel.