The Government on Thursday clarified that the two-day trip of the Members of European Parliament (MEPs) to Kashmir was like a “familiarisation visit”.
Addressing the media, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, “The MEPs who visited India had expressed a keen desire to know about India. It was like a familiarisation visit”.
He said that the EU lawmakers belonged to a spectrum of views from different countries of Europe and different political parties. “Meetings were therefore accordingly facilitated as has been done on many previous occasions,” he added.
The statement came after the Opposition including BJP ally Shiv Sena targeted the Centre over the visit of European Union (EU) MPs to Jammu and Kashmir.
The EU delegation was on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir for a first-hand assessment of the situation in Kashmir.
The opposition has questioned how foreign MPs were allowed to visit the restive region when the politicians of the country have been denied the opportunity.
The Congress has targeted the Government saying it has internationalised the Kashmir issue.
This is the first foreign delegation to visit the restive region after the Centre withdrew Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and bifurcated the state into two Union Territories (UTs) on August 5.
Following its visit, the delegation said it “fully supports India in its efforts for lasting peace and end of terror”.
The members of the EU delegation added that they were not in Kashmir to interfere in India’s politics.
The remarks were made after the delegation came under heavy criticism as it emerged that several of them belonged to right-wing parties in Italy, France and Germany. In all, 22 of the 27 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are right-wing politicians in their respective countries.
Further, on asked if Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu is on the list of pilgrims to go in the inaugural ‘jatha’ to Kartarpur, the MEA spokesperson said normal rules for seeking political clearance for such visits will apply while adding that there will not be any surprises.
Reacting on China’s comments on the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir, Raveesh Kumar said that India does not expect other countries, including Beijing to comment on the matters which are internal to India, just as New Delhi refrains from commenting on the internal issues of other countries.