SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI: More than two dozen diplomats are visiting Indian-Occupied Kashmir (IOK), New Delhi said on Wednesday, as the country tries to reassure foreign allies following several months of unrest in the contested territory, foreign media reported.
The group includes European diplomats, some of whom declined a previous invitation from New Delhi to visit the region. A proposed vote in the European Union parliament next month could chastise India for its actions in Kashmir.
The Muslim-majority Himalayan region has been in turmoil since New Delhi stripped it of special status and clamped down on communication and freedom of movement in August.
Many political leaders, including three former chief ministers of Jammu & Kashmir state, are still in detention without charge six months after the crackdown, and foreign journalists have so far been denied permission to visit the region.
According to Indian Foreign Affairs Ministry, the delegation included envoys from Germany, Canada, Bulgaria, Nigeria, France, New Zealand, Mexico, Italy, Afghanistan, Austria, Uzbekistan, Poland and some members of the European Parliament. They'll stay in the region for two days.
Sources familiar with the itinerary said the trip will also include meetings with the Indian army and government officials, as well as journalists and civil society groups selected by the security services.
Critics say the tour is a smokescreen for India's rights abuses in the volatile region and aimed to blunt European initiatives on Kashmir.
Kashmir-based political analyst Sheikh Showkat told the media that the "Indian PR exercise is aimed to blunt European initiatives on Kashmir and portray normalcy in the region." "The exercise loses its worth because of continuous detentions of leaders, activists, and internet ban."
Mosharraf Zaidi, an independent analyst and former adviser to Pakistan's foreign ministry, told a media outlet that the visit "reconfirms the international community's unholy alliance with the fascist and religious extremists that run India."
"It is a shameful abdication of Western responsibility in highlighting and preventing human rights abuse. It could also strengthen extremist narratives and groups in Pakistan."
Boat-ride diplomacy
The diplomats were driven in a motorcade amid tight security from the airport to a luxury hotel in a high-security zone. They also went for a boat ride in the Dal Lake in Srinagar.
Tahir Qadiry, an Afghan diplomat, told reporters after the boat ride that "everything is normal and alright here. We saw children on the way to their school, which is a sign of normalcy." All schools and colleges in the Himalayan region are closed for winter vacations since December, making it unclear what Qadiry was referring to.
He also tweeted that the envoys "are interacting with the traders, businesswomen and entrepreneurs in Srinagar about the status of business & tourism." However, social media sites including Twitter continue to be blocked in Kashmir even though authorities restored the slow-speed internet on mobile phones in January.
"These visits are organised as a smokescreen to trick the international community into believing that everything is fine in Kashmir and to support the Indian viewpoint," said Abdul Rashid, a Kashmiri trader.
"These curated hand-held tours of the besieged Kashmir do not answer the basic question: if the situation in Kashmir is normal, why are hundreds of political activists still under detention, why are journalists being harassed for reporting, and why are Kashmiris denied the ability to express themselves on social media or in the form of political activity?" Mohamad Junaid, who teaches anthropology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in US, said.
"Taking diplomats to meet a chosen few Kashmiris in tiny enclaves of Srinagar says more about the abnormality of the occupation than about how the situation is 'normal'." Last month fifteen foreign envoys visited Kashmir - a trip participants characterized as tightly-choreographed with no room for independent meetings.
“Things looked calm, but we only had a very short time out the window of the car to assess the situation,” said a diplomat who attended the previous trip. “They told the truth, but not necessarily the whole truth,” he added of his meetings with delegates.
