Why India hides its sins in Valley?

A recent trip by EU MPs to the Valley has raised more questions than satisfaction for the Modi Sarkar. It was a group of selected ‘invited right wing MPs’ visiting India on an NGO invitation for a VIP meeting.

Madi Sharma, an Indian businesswoman who describes herself as an “international business broker” organised the trip.

But the delegation of foreign MPs strangely first met the Indian prime minister, the vice-president, the National Security Adviser and then the 15 Corps GOC in Srinagar, state chief secretary, police chief and other key officials but not common people and state politicians.

The Indian journalists started asking if foreign MPs could be allowed access to Kashmir and given detailed briefings, why not Indian MPs. Nicolaus Fest, an EU MP from Germany, said later, “I think if you let in the EU parliamentarians, you should also let in the opposition politicians from India.” On August 24, an eight-party delegation led by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was turned back from the Srinagar airport and Congress leader and former J&K CM Ghulam Nabi Azad could visit the held state later after an intervention by the Indian Supreme Court.

But the concerned visit has backfired and has further internationalised the festering issue. India cannot let in US Congressional delegation but structures and stage manages a visit by right-wing European MPs to held Valley. On the other hand, on October 7, US Senators Chris Van Hollen and Maggie Hassan and US Charge d’Affaires Ambassador Paul Jones visited Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir.

After the visit of European MPs to the held Valley came the bombshell in the shape of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s characterisation of the situation of Kashmiris being “unsustainable” during her recent Delhi trip.

Three months after the lockdown, even Indian journalists and analysts are becoming highly skeptical and concerned. Sushaini Haidar admits “the issue of Kashmir has been internationalised in a manner not seen in decades, at least since the early 1990s when violence in the State was at a peak.”

Understandably, the Indian government has become jittery over the US Congressional hearing to question measures to protect lives of people in held Jammu and Kashmir. Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar claimed “that the US Congressional hearing on Kashmir was a reflection of lack of understanding about robust functioning of democratic institutions in India.” He declared the Indian government remained responsive to safety and well-being of people in Jammu and Kashmir.

“These comments display a very limited understanding of India’s history, her pluralistic society, constitutionally guaranteed freedom, fundamental rights and the robust institutions operating in the world’’s largest democracy,” he said. The world thinks otherwise.

During the Congressional hearing on “Human Rights in South Asia: Views from the State Department and the Region”, US lawmakers had expressed deep concerns over the unparalleled restrictions on movement and communications in held Valley since August 5.

According to one top Indian journalist “especially after the Pulwama attack and the Balakot strikes in February this year, it is clear that in capitals worldwide, events in Kashmir are now increasingly conflated with fears of an India-Pakistan conflict.”

She admits that “New Delhi still faces the risk of a U.S. Congress resolution after the subcommittee on Human Rights in South Asia hearing last month, and critical language on Kashmir detentions and the lockdown introduced into the Senate Appropriations bill. Much of this, as (Indian FM) Mr. Jaishankar admitted at a public event, is fueled by dozens of articles in the western media.” The truth cannot be hidden anymore.