[The European delegation allowed to visit on Tuesday consists mostly of members of far-right populist parties, including the Alternative for Germany, Poland’s governing Law and Justice party and the French party National Rally. Indian news reports said 22 of the 27 lawmakers in the group were from far-right parties. Embassies from some of the countries that the delegation represents confirmed their attendance when contacted by The New York Times.]
By
Maria Abi-Habib
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Police
officers stood guard outside a park in Srinigar, Kashmir, this month.
Credit
Atul Loke for The New York Times
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NEW DELHI — After months of denying
journalists, Indian lawmakers and an American senator access to the locked-down
Kashmir region, the Indian government on Tuesday allowed a visit by mostly
far-right members of the European Parliament, representing anti-immigration
parties with histories of anti-Muslim rhetoric.
India stripped the disputed state of Jammu
and Kashmir of its autonomy on Aug. 5, and it has stopped international
journalists from traveling there, locked up local politicians and severed phone
lines and the internet. The government partially restored cellphone service
this month, but all other communication remains cut.
The European delegation allowed to visit on
Tuesday consists mostly of members of far-right populist parties, including the
Alternative for Germany, Poland’s governing Law and Justice party and the
French party National Rally. Indian news
reports said 22 of the 27 lawmakers in the group were from far-right parties.
Embassies from some of the countries that the delegation represents confirmed
their attendance when contacted by The New York Times.
A United States senator, Chris Van Hollen,
was prevented from traveling to Kashmir earlier this month, and the Indian
government has consistently blocked the country’s own lawmakers from visiting
the area to assess the situation.
The Twitter account of Mehbooba Mufti, one of
the Kashmiri politicians who have been detained, was scathing about the
European delegation’s visit. Members of Ms. Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party
have been prevented from meeting with her during her detention.
“In its desperation to convince international
community that normalcy’s restored in Kashmir,” the government of India is
“engaging with what seem like pro fascist, right leaning and anti immigrant EU
MPs. Royal mess,” the post read. (Ms. Mufti’s Twitter account is being operated
by her daughter while she is in detention, supporters say.)
Kashmir is in dispute between Pakistan and
India. It became an autonomous Indian state after independence from Britain in
1947, but it did so under an agreement that eventually Kashmiris, who are
predominately Muslim, would be allowed to vote on whether to stay with India or
join Pakistan. That vote never occurred.
In August, the Indian government suddenly
revoked Kashmir’s autonomy, in a bid to increase its hold on the territory. On
Thursday, India will officially change the status of Jammu and Kashmir, making
it a federally controlled territory rather than a state. The move will separate
it into two union territories — Ladakh as one territory, and Jammu and Kashmir
as another.
The revocation of Kashmir’s autonomy was
welcomed by most Indian political parties, even the opposition. But many
protested how it was done, including the jailing of elected politicians and the
curbs on communication and travel. Doctors say people have died because
ambulances have been delayed at checkpoints.
“It’s an insult to India’s Parliament when
democratically elected parliamentarians from India are forbidden from traveling
within their own country and must seek permission to travel to Jammu and
Kashmir,” Gaurav Gogoi, a lawmaker with the opposition Indian National Congress
party, said in an interview.
“My only hope is that Indian parliamentarians
are allowed the same privileges that the E.U. delegation is being shown,” Mr.
Gogoi said.
Although the Indian government insisted that
the Europeans were visiting in a personal capacity and had not officially been
invited by New Delhi, on Monday they met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and
his national security adviser, Ajit Doval.
One government official, who insisted on
anonymity to brief journalists, said that an Indian nongovernmental
organization had arranged the visit. The official declined to elaborate and
insisted that the delegation robustly represented various European parties, not
just far-right groups.
The European delegation visited Srinagar, the
capital of Jammu and Kashmir, on Tuesday and was to receive a briefing from
security officials.
When contacted, several of the European
embassies in New Delhi whose countries are represented in the delegation said
they had been kept in the dark about the visit, and that they had found out
about it from media reports.
