NEW DELHI, India: A 28-member delegation of the European Parliament will visit the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IOJ&K) on Tuesday (October 29) to gather the firsthand information about the besieged valley, said a report by India Today.
Prior to their visit, the delegation will also meet the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, and get briefing of the situation in IOJ&K.
Kashmir has been under a communication lockdown ever since New Delhi abrogated Article 370 on August 5, 2019.
Though postpaid phones and landline services were resumed in Jammu and Kashmir after over 70 days of abrogation; however, there are still a number of restrictions including Section 144 which are in place in the valley.
As per India Today, a group of intellectuals and academicians in their report termed everything ‘normal’ in Kashmir and rejected reports of clampdown in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the group suggested confidence-building measures to ensure equitable development of all regions and the people.
In the vice versa, the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti alleged that the Central government has been lying about the restrictions in the state and releasing the detained civilians.
Iltija said that Section 144, which prohibits the gathering of more than four people, is very much in place in IOJ&K. She further said that the local press of Jammu and Kashmir has been threatened not to report the ground realities.
India has invited Riht-Wing political parties of EU Parliament those are critical of Muslims and Islam.
List of the EU Parliament delegation which is visiting Kashmir:
Italy
Gianna Gancia
(League, right-wing, anti-immigration)
Silvia Sardone
(right-wing, anti-immigration)
Guiseppe Ferrandino
(Democratic Party)
Fulvio Martusciello
(Forza Italia, centre-right)
Czech Republic
Tomas Zdechobsky
(Christian Democrats, conservative)
France
Thierry Mariani
(The Rebulicans, centre right)
Julie Lechanteux
(Rassemblement National, right wing)
Maxette Pirbakas
(National Rally, right wing)
Virginie Joron
(Rassemblement National, right wing)
France Jamet
(Rassemblement National, right wing)
Nicholas Bay
(Rassemblement National, right wing)
Spain
Hermann Tertsch
(Communist Party, European Conservatives and Reformists Group, Right wing)
Poland
Kosma Zlotowski
(Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, justice and law, centre right)
Bogdan Rzonca (
justice and law, centre right)
Elzbieta Rafalska
(justice and law, centre right)
Joana Kopcinska
(justice and law, centre right)
Grzegorz Tobiszowski
(justice and law, centre right)
Ryszard Czarnecki
(justice and law, centre right)
UK
Nathan Gill
(Brexit Party, right wing)
David Richard Bull
(Brexit Party, right wing)
Bill Newton Dunn
(Liberal democrats)
Alexandra Philips
(Brexit Party, right wing)
James Wells
(Brexit Party, right wing)
Belgium
Tom Vandendriessche
(Identity and Democracy Group, far-right political group in the European Parliament)
Germany
Bernhard Zimniok
(Alternative für Deutschland, right wing)
Lars Partick Berg
(Alternative für Deutschland, right wing)
Slovakia
Peter Pollak
(Christian Democrats, conservative)
