New Delhi: The European Union delegation of MPs which visited Jammu & Kashmir has expressed strong backing for India to end terror in the state and restore peace.
Briefing the media at the end of their visit on Wednesday in Srinagar, the EU delegation said, “We, the international delegation, fully support India in its efforts for lasting peace and end of terror”. Backing India’s position, the delegation acknowledged that the problem in Kashmir is linked to terrorism.
This is the first international delegation to visit J&K after Article 370 was abrogated and trifurcation of the state announced.
“Terrorism in Kashmir is not a problem only of India. I think it’s a problem of the international community also. We support India for finding the best solution”, a member of the delegation said.
On the interaction with locals, the EU MPs said, “We are Indian citizens and we want to be Indian like all other Indian citizens… want to have a development like other parts of the country, locals told us”.
The EU lawmakers said in the briefing, “We are not here to interfere in Indian politics”. The lawmakers pointed out that those who are criticizing have no reality about the parliamentary delegations. The purpose of such delegations is to collect information and facts.
They added that they had fascinating meetings with representatives of civil society and it had been an excellent visit.
“We were briefed about the situation. The steps being taken are quite thorough. We would have liked to meet more people from civil society, but we understand the situation and feel assured”, EU lawmakers added.
The lawmakers said it was good to have a first glance about the situation in Kashmir and hoped that next time they could have more contact with civil society.
