‘Kashmir Issue Not Internationalised’: MEA on EU MPs’ J&K Visit

It said that the important point was whether such an engagement serves larger national interests.

EU MPs at the Dal Lake.

(Photo: PTI)

The Ministry of External Affairs, in a press conference on Thursday, 31 October, said the visit of the 23-member delegation of European Union parliamentarians to Jammu and Kashmir was “not at all internationalisation” of the Kashmir issue, news agency PTI reported.

“It was brought to the attention of the government that this delegation is going to visit India. MEPs who visited India had expressed a keen desire to know about India, it was like a familiarisation visit”, said MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, ANI reported.

He added that the important point was whether such an engagement serves larger national interests, “We feel that such exchanges are part of people-to-people contacts.”

Kumar said that the views of MEPs reflected their understanding of ground realities and the threat of terrorism in Kashmir.

Commenting on criticisms that the MEPs had come on an informal trip allegedly arranged by an NGO, he said, “such delegations do not necessarily have to come through official channels.”

The informal delegation had visited Jammu and Kashmir for two days, 29 and 30 October, for a first-hand assessment of the situation in the region, following the abrogation of Article 370.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)