Kashmir valley observed a spontaneous shutdown ostensibly to protest the tour of the visiting delegates to the valley.
Muhammad Raafi | Clarion India
SRINAGAR — Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday said that the foreign diplomats visiting Kashmir will not be able to see the ground situation as the tour is “orchestrated and being monitored”.
The foreign delegates were taken to selected places where selected people were allowed to meet them, Mehbooba told Clarion India in Srinagar.
Diplomats of 24 countries landed in Kashmir capital city Srinagar on Wednesday morning where in the evening suspected militants fired point blank upon a person, Aakash Mehra, a restauranteur, almost one kilometre away from the spot where the delegates are staying.
Officials said the visit was organised to brief the envoys about developmental and democratic measures taken after the former state was stripped of its special status on August 5, 2019.
The envoys from Europe, Africa, South America, and Asian regions reached the capital city Srinagar Wednesday morning amid heavy security arrangements. It is a third such visit organised by the government of India since August 5.
The delegation includes envoys from Chile, Brazil, Cuba, Bolivia, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, EU, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Bangladesh, Malawi, Eritrea, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Malaysia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Mehbooba said it is not something which will give the delegates a fair idea of what is happening on the ground. “The ground situation is completely different from what is being projected to them,” she said.
Kashmir valley observed a spontaneous shutdown ostensibly to protest the tour of the visiting delegates to the valley. Shops and businesses remained shut while a thin movement of traffic was witnessed on the roads in capital Srinagar city.
After the delegates landed at the Sheikh-ul-Aalam International Airport in Srinagar, they were steered to Government Degree College in Central Kashmir’s Budgam district where college students accorded traditional welcome to the delegates by singing famous Kashmiri chorus song “Roshe Wala Myani Dilbaro” and showered rose petals on them.
After the traditional welcome, they were briefed on the Panchayati Raj and grievance redressal system, an official, not authorised to speak to the media, said. He said some of the envoys also interacted with the locals.
A day ahead of the arrival of the delegates, authorities in Srinagar removed security bunkers that were erected after the abrogation of “special status” on August 5, 2019 inviting sharp reactions from the locals.
“We had been saying for over one year that the security bunkers were creating a hurdle in the smooth running of the traffic but the administration never seemed bothered. Now when the foreign diplomats are visiting, the bunkers have been removed to give them a semblance of normalcy in the valley,” a local resident in Hyderpora, on the Srinagar airport road, said.
Jammu and Kashmir’s largest regional party National Conference feigned ignorance about the tour and its format.
Party General Secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar said that he had no idea about the purpose of the visit.
Speaking to Clarion India, he said, “The recently elected DDC members of the party in district Budgam were detained in their homes and were not allowed to meet the delegates.”
“The administration manipulated the tour of the delegates and only its lackeys were allowed to meet them.”
The tour of the delegates comes days after the high speed internet was restored in the valley. Previously the Central government organised two similar tours of foreign diplomats to the valley.
In October 2019, two months after the Jammu and Kashmir state was stripped of its autonomy, splitting it into two federally run union territories and locking it down for months, a group of 27, largely right-wing European parliamentarians (MEPs) visited the valley that had prompted outrage from local politicians.
Later on February 12, 2020 a delegation of 25 foreign envoys toured Kashmir valley.
Locals in the Kashmir valley termed the tour of the foreign diplomats as a futile exercise that neither has yielded any results in the past nor shall it in future.
Former Dean, School of Legal Studies at the Central University of Kashmir Dr Sheikh Showkat Hussain said that the visit of the diplomats is not new. He said it has been going on for a long time without any “repercussions”.
European Union diplomats, leaders and others have a vested interest and they are using Kashmir as a bargaining chip, Dr Hussain said.
He said by inviting the foreign diplomats India is creating a paradox. “On one hand they claim that J&K is an integral part of India and on the other hand they are inviting foreign delegations to Kashmir essentially denying their previous statements.”
All Parties Hurriyat Conference, an amalgam of “pro-freedom” parties led by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in a statement said that the “curated tour of foreign dignitaries to showcase ‘normalcy’ in the valley to the outside world is misleading”. The statement said that spontaneous strike by people speaks volumes to the world of what Kashmiris feel and want.
The amalgam appealed to the delegation to use its good offices and help in facilitating dialogue among India, Pakistan and the people of J&K for the resolution of this “long standing dispute” and bring an end to decades of uncertainty and suffering of the people of J&K.
After the briefing in Budgam, the delegates were guided to Srinagar where several recently elected political leaders met them in a hotel.
Srinagar Mayor and leader of Apni Party Junaid Azim Mattoo who met the delegates said the foreign envoys spoke to elected representatives from all political parties. Mattoo said the key issue discussed was decentralisation of power and planning, empowerment of the grassroots representatives.
The visiting dignitaries were apprised of the landmark elections of DDC and urban local bodies. “They wanted to know the ground realities. Elected representatives from all political spectrum and parties participated.”
One of the foreign delegates, Juan José Cortez Rojas, Charge d Affaires, Embassy of Bolivia in Delhi, told news agency ANI that the situation in the Union Territory was impressive. “What we are realising is that democracy took place here. People here are happy with the political decisions the central government took,” he said.
The delegates later paid obeisance at the famous Hazratbal shrine and “spoke to locals” there.
The diplomats were also scheduled to meet a group of civil society members, traders, pro-India politicians and journalists.
On Thursday, the ambassadors are scheduled to visit Jammu where they are likely to meet DDC members and representatives of some social organisations. A government official said the delegates will be briefed about the security situation by senior officers involved in the law and order situation in the Valley.
