New Delhi: A group of around 15 foreign ambassadors are likely to visit Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday for a two day trip “to assess the ground situation,” government officials said.This would be the first trip facilitated by India for foreign diplomats to Kashmir since the Indian government tabled the Bill in parliament to remove the state’s autonomous status and bifurcate it into two Union Territories.The confirmation of the visit came on the eve of the envoys travelling to Srinagar. “We have been receiving requests from some envoys based in Delhi to undertake a visit to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Our consistent position has been that we may consider the request only after analysing the security situation and checking the situation on the ground with the J&K administration,” said government sources.They added that around 15 envoys were being taken to Jammu and Kashmir on January 9-10 “to see first-hand the efforts being made by the government to bring the situation to normal”.Also read: MEA Invites Foreign Envoys to Visit KashmirNo names of the countries which are part of this first group of diplomats have been announced yet.However, invitations were sent out to most of the P-5 countries, including US, UK, France and Russia. It is not clear if China was also asked to be on this tour. Some of the EU countries, including Germany, were certainly extended an invitation.The western countries, especially UK, US and European Union, have consistently expressed concern about the situation in Kashmir, especially the continuing detention of political leaders and restrictions on communications. There had also been criticism about the lack of access to foreign observers and diplomats to Kashmir over the last six months.However, EU envoys will not be part of this delegation of foreign ambassadors, as they are still in discussion with the Indian government on the format of the visit.Indian government sources denied that EU envoys had refused to join as they did not want restricted access to officials. New Delhi claims that the European Union delegation, which was coordinating with Indian government, had conveyed that they wanted to visit Jammu and Kashmir as a group.“This was not possible due to restrictions in numbers and to keep the group broad-based,” said sources. Some other EU ambassadors also turned down the offer as it was taking place “at a short notice, which could not allow them enough time to seek instructions from headquarters”.The government sources asserted that the diplomats would be “free to interact with people subject to security considerations”. “In any case, no ambassador had specifically asked to meet anyone who was detained,” they added.The EU envoys would go on a separate visit to Jammu and Kashmir at a “later date”, said sources.It is learnt that Russia has declined to be on the group as there is an impending ministerial visit. The last time that foreign nationals visited Kashmir was in October 2019, when a group of members of European parliament made a “private visit” to Srinagar. They had met with Kashmir government officials, Indian army officers and selected local businessmen who called on the MEPs. The invitation to an MEP was rescinded when he had sought unsupervised meeting with local Kashmiris.
