Kashmir: Inviting Global Scrutiny

ON October 29, India allowed a 27-member European Union (E.U.)delegation to travel to Kashmir, the first foreign team to be allowed access to Kashmir, even as allegations of this being a “guided tour” dominated headlines. The allegations were borne out of the fact that 22 of the 27 delegates come from far-right, Islamophobic backgrounds and were associated with political parties with a stated anti-immigration position such as the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the French Rassemblement National.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury denounced the exercise as he pointed out that the delegates were “overwhelmingly from ultra-right-wing, pro-fascist parties”. Former Congress party president Rahul Gandhi tweeted that it was inexplicable that handpicked foreign dignitaries’ visit was being facilitated at a time when opposition leaders had been denied permission to travel to Kashmir to take stock of the situation. “MPs from Europe are welcome to go on a guided tour of Jammu and Kashmir while Indian MPs are banned and denied entry. There is something very wrong with that,” he said in his tweet.