Question : Visit of European Parliament Delegation

(a) whether a 23 members team from European Parliament visited Jammu and Kashmir and held discussions with various political parties and individuals there;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the visit of the Members of European Parliament (MEP) was on the invitation of the Indian Government;

(d) if so, whether it is a fact that several MEPs including Mr. Chris Davis refused to participate in the programme quoting the reason that democracy is being subverted in J&K as widely reported in the Indian and international media and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) the reasons for allowing foreign Parliament Members to visit J&K which is under total lockdown for the last three months while denying entry of Indian parliamentarians?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
(SHRI G. KISHAN REDDY)


(a) to (e): The Government of Jammu and Kashmir has reported that a group of 27 Members of European Parliament (MEPs),who belonged to different political parties including ruling and opposition parties, paid a private visit to India from


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L.S.US.Q.NO.2497 FOR 3.12.2019

28th October, 2019 to 1st November, 2019 at the invitation of International Institute for Nonaligned Studies, a Delhi based think tank.

Meetings were facilitated for the MEPs, as has been done previously on familiarization visits for the visiting Members of Parliament of different countries. Further, the MEPs had expressed their desire that they would like to visit Kashmir to understand how terrorism is affecting India and how this has been a challenge for India. They got a sense of the threat of terrorism and how terrorism poses a threat to India especially in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. Such exchanges promote deeper people to people contact and ultimately it feeds into the larger relationship which any two countries would like to develop.

The Indian delegation of MPs were not allowed to visit Kashmir Valley due to imminent law & order and security concerns.

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