In Kashmir, Who Are The Leaders Of The New Political ‘Mainstream’? scroll.in

Late in October, a group of members of the European Parliament descended on Kashmir. Nearly three months after August 5, when the Centre stripped Jammu and Kashmir of special status under Article 370 and split it into to Union Territories, the Valley was still under siege. An internet blockade was still in place and most of the Kashmiri political leadership, those who did not participate in electoral politics as well as those who did, was locked up.

But the European MPs went boating on the Dal Lake and dined with a select group of politicians from the Valley. They included three former ministers – the People’s Democratic Party’s Muzaffar Baig, Altaf Bukhari, who was expelled from the party earlier this year, and Usman Majeed of the Congress – who had reportedly been invited by national security advisor Ajit Doval. The MPs also met an array of younger politicians such as Mir Junaid, a former member of the National Students’ Union of India, and newly appointed chairmen of the block development councils, a tier of Jammu and Kashmir’s panchayati raj system.