A delegation of 22 foreign envoys from various countries arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir to assess the development work and security situation following successful conduct of maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls.
The delegation comprised envoys from different countries including Chile, Brazil, Cuba, Bolivia, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Bangladesh, Malawi, Eritrea, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Malaysia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Soon after landing at Srinagar Airport, the delegation was accorded a traditional welcome with girls singing traditional Kashmiri songs amid showering of flower petals.
After coming out of the Srinagar Airport, they drove towards Magam area of Central Kashmir’s Budgam district and met the recently elected District Development Council (DDC) members from the district including the chairperson Nazir Ahmad Khan and Panchayat members. 

The DDC chairman after meeting the delegation said that they discussed the issue of development with them and projected some developmental works before them.
“The motive of the program was to deliberate on the role of DDC in working towards the development of district Budgam. We have put our points in front of the delegation. The matter of the fact that they are from developed countries, they can come up with better solutions to the issues.  In Budgam, the literacy rate is low here, and the consecutive Governments could not work for the development of the district”, he said.
“We told them in the recently held DDC elections we have been able to get an efficient council which is determined to work towards the betterment of the district. We put forth the issues pertaining to the basic needs of people and they said that they will forward these issues to the higher-ups. The delegation responded in a good manner”, he added.
Ghulam Mohammad, a Panch from Beerwah said he told the delegation that Articles 370 and 35A should be restored to Jammu and Kashmir. “We told them to put in place what Kashmir had before August 5, 2019. We impressed on that, to begin with”, he said.
“We also appeal to the Government of India to send our people (the Parliamentarians, Ministers) to listen to our issues; how the people, who don’t even belong to this country, are going to understand what the people of J&K are going through?”, he said.
“The delegation listened to us, and we know they are not going to do anything. Why can’t any Minister or anyone else come and listen to us? We talked to them about Article 370 and the development related issues and at the same time impressed on the need of restoring the position which J&K enjoyed prior to August 5 2019″, he added.

From Budgam, the delegation moved to Srinagar’s Lalit-Grand Palace where they had lunch. The delegation later visited Hazratbal shrine. The delegation entered into the premises of the shrine as well and later posed for a photograph outside the shrine.
They later reached Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) where they met a number of delegations including artisans, sports men and others.
The people who met the delegation said they only discussed the issues confronting them in the particular field they are affiliated with. “We highlighted the enthusiasm among the youth about sports and discussed the issues confronting them”, said a sportsman.
An artisan said that they discussed the issues about handicraft and other relevant issues.
The delegation later interacted with a section of media at SKICC. The media men who participated in the meeting stated that the delegation discussed the developmental issues as well as the situation in the Valley.
The media men informed that they were asked about the situation in the aftermath of abrogation of Article 370 and also the developmental scenario in Kashmir.
The media persons highlighted the issues of lack of development and problems faced by them due to ban on 4G internet.
One of the editors of a newspaper and a spokesman of a political party praised the Government for freedom of press in Kashmir during the interaction. They told the delegation that there are no curbs on the press and the press enjoys full freedom.
Another journalist said that he told the delegation that they don’t get Government version of the stories as Government is not available for comments. “We are facing lot of issues in filing the stories. Orders regarding J&K are issued from Delhi we don’t get those orders here. We suggested that they should use their good office to make the J&K bureaucracy vibrant”, he said.
“I told them that there is lack of development. If Government had issue with Article 370, they should have not scrapped 35A which guaranteed job and land rights”, he said.

Others talked of lack of development and power crisis in Kashmir. However, one of the journalists said that they are being provided uninterrupted electric supply.
A journalist said that one of the delegates asked about their comments on domicile law in J&K and India dropping to 149 ranking in freedom of press index. “No one replied and everyone kept mum”, he said.
The delegation met the administration in the evening who gave them details about the efforts made by the administration for mitigating problems faced people and developmental issues.
This is the third delegation visiting the Valley to assess the ground situation in J&K after the central government abrogated the special status of erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the State into two Union Territories including Jammu and Kashmir & Ladakh.
The delegation will fly to Jammu tomorrow where they would meet Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, civil society members and others there.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Mehbooba Mufti today said that the delegations come and go, but the fact remains that the situation isn’t favourable in J&K at all.  ”It is nothing new, delegations come and go,” she added.
“The approach that has confined the movement of Jammu and Kashmir’s leadership is not good at all. We are being caged in our own homes,” she said.
And in the meantime, the normal life in Kashmir remained disrupted today due to strike called by Huriyat Conference in protest against the visit of foreign envoy delegation. Shops and business establishments remained closed and traffic was off the roads. However, the private cars and some taxis were plying.

Courtesy: Daily Excelsior : 17th February 2021