Some terrorists lobbed a grenade into a crowd waiting at a bus stop in Kashmir’s Sopore town, injuring at least 20 civilians on Monday. This came a day before a group of 28 MPs from the European Union are slated to visit Jammu and Kashmir.

The civilians were attacked by grenades when they were waiting at the bus stand. Of the 20 civilians injured, six people who have been critically injured were referred to a hospital in Srinagar. The others are undergoing treatment at a local hospital, officials said.

Security forces have cordoned off the area and launched an operation to nab the attackers. However, no arrests have been made so far, police confirmed.

Nearly three months after its decision on Article 370, the Union government has decided to allow a delegation of European parliamentarians to travel to Srinagar and see the situation in Kashmir. India is all poised to expose Pakistan for its nefarious propaganda about the situation in Jammu and Kashmir as 28 member delegation of Members of European Parliament will visit Srinagar tomorrow to observe the situation in the state firsthand.

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This move came in after six American lawmakers had written to Indian Ambassador to the US, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, claiming that the picture portrayed by India in the Valley is different from the one being told to them by their constituents and sought from India free access for foreign journalists and congressmen to Kashmir.

This team would be the first foreign delegation to visit Kashmir since the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir was revoked in August.

After India took the bold decision to withdraw Kashmir’s autonomy, it put the region under a preventive lockdown. However, after the administration has been gradually easing the restrictions in the Valley, an isolated Pakistan due to its desperation to internationalise the issue has been attempting to incite violence in the valley to disrupt the normalcy.

In a bid to do so Pakistani terrorists have been killing non-local workers, traders and truck drivers to instil fear amongst the civilians in the Valley. With Pakistan trying to meddle in Indian internal affairs, at least three non-locals have been shot dead by Islamic terrorists. In just last two weeks, two non-local truck drivers have been shot down by terrorists. In another such incident, an apple trader from Punjab named Charanjeet Singh was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the Shopian district last Wednesday.

These killing came two days after terrorists shot dead a truck driver from Rajasthan and assaulted an orchard owner in Shirmal village in Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir. The truck, bearing a Rajasthan registration number, was set ablaze on its way to Jammu. The body of the driver was recovered from the truck.

In August, terrorists had shot and killed a 65-year-old shopkeeper for defying their diktat and keeping his shop open. On September 7, three fruit traders and a toddler were shot by terrorists in Sopore.