The clampdown in Kashmir Valley was discussed in Rajya Sabhaon Wednesday as Opposition leaders raised various aspects of the complex issue,including communication blockade, arrest of local politicians and thegovernment's refusal to allow Opposition members to visit the Valley, even asit facilitated the visit of Members of European Parliament to the sensitiveregion.

The government on its part, merely repeated the officialposition in the Parliament, without giving any additional details. In responseto a specific question on why Indian legislators were not allowed into Kashmirwhile European parliamentarians were allowed, the Ministry of Home Affairsbarely said that the MEPs' visit was a private visit which allowed 'people-to-people contact'.

Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy — inresponse to an unstarred question by Sukhram Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party— said, a group of European parliamentarians that recently visited Kashmir wason a "private visit" to the country.

"The government of Jammu and Kashmir has reported thata group of 27 Members of European Parliament (MEPs), who belonged to differentpolitical parties, including ruling and opposition parties, paid a privatevisit to India from 28 October, 2019, to 1 November, 2019, at the invitation ofthe International Institute for Non-aligned Studies, a Delhi-based thinktank," Reddy said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. He also informed theHouse that an Indian delegation of MPs was not allowed to visit Kashmir due tosecurity concerns. However, Yadav's question had specifically asked for aclarification on why the government thought one visit was feasible, whileanother wasn't. The MP had also sought to know the justification for visit ofthe delegation of European MPs in current situation in Jammu and Kashmir.Theresponse provided did not touch upon the justification of the visit given thesituation in the Valley. The government also did not clearly state that whetheror not it sanctioned the visit.

Yadav had asked, "Whether government has givenpermission to the delegation of European MPs to meet citizens of Jammu andKashmir to assess the current situation there; whether the delegation ofEuropean MPs was organised by an NGO; the justification for stopping thedelegation of Indian MPs, which earlier went there to meet the citizens; andthe justification for visit of the delegation of European MPs in currentsituation in Jammu and Kashmir?"

Opposition parties had attacked the government over the EUdelegation's tour of Kashmir after Indian politicians and MPs were not allowedto travel to the Valley after abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special statuson 5 August.Interestingly, the response to another question raised by KeralaCongress (M) MP Jose K Mani, touching upon a different aspect of the EUparliamentarians' visit, was also a word to word replica of the answer given toYadav's question.

Mani had asked, "whether emboldened by the situation inthe Kashmir valley coming under relative control, Government has mustered upthe confidence that it can take the risk of allowing a delegation of EUparliamentarians to assess the ground realities; whether Government has beenstringent so far in not allowing free access to Jammu and Kashmir especiallythe valley because of the potential for violence; and whether Governmentconsiders the visit of the EU delegation as an educative exercise aimed atdiplomatic correction of misapprehensions created by anti-Indian lobbies?"

To another question on whether the Union government has"distracted" from its policy of not allowing any externalintervention on the Jammu-Kashmir issue, Reddy stated that India's consistentposition has been that issues, if any, with Pakistan are discussed onlybilaterally.  "There is no scope forany third party role or mediation," the minister said. The team of MEPswas the first foreign delegation to travel to Kashmir after Jammu and Kashmir'sspecial status was revoked. The delegation was on a two-day visit to get afirst-hand assessment of the situation there after the 5 August decision. Ofthe 27 MEPs who came to India, 23 went to Kashmir.