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NEW DELHI: The Centre has invited a group of foreign envoys posted in India to travel to Jammu & Kashmir on January 9-10 to see for themselves the ground situation in the Valley. The newly re-organised Union territory has been off-limits for foreign diplomats since August 2019.

According to sources, the government has reached out to around 18 diplomats from European and other western countries as well as some countries from Gulf and OIC members.

India has come in for international criticism for the communication blackout , which has now been lifted, as well as political detentions of elected politicians in Kashmir . Not all the invitations have been accepted, as diplomats have sought clarity on how independent they would be during their visit. The government has been at pains to allay their concerns, and promised them access to local officials, leaders, ordinary Kashmiris and security officials.

In October, the government facilitated an NGO called Madi Group, which escorted a group of 23 members of European parliament to Kashmir to meet some locals and get classified security briefings. The visit was criticised for the fact that MEPs represented far-right political parties in their countries. Their missions here insisted that they had come as individuals, not as representatives of their countries, which sort of defeated the purpose of the visit.

The current visit is intended for representatives of governments, and therefore, holds greater weight.

