New Delhi: Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Binoy Viswam has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding that he be allowed to visit Kashmir in order to enquire about the well-being of ordinary people of the region.
The demand has been raised by the CPI in the backdrop of a European Parliament delegation that has been taken to the Valley by the Union government.
The delegation, comprising members of the European Parliament landed in Srinagar on Tuesday to ‘see the ground situation’ in Jammu and Kashmir 86 days after special status was withdrawn to the status by reading down Article 370 of the Constitution.
“The situation in Kashmir still remains a mystery to the people of India, after the abrogation of Article 370. It is reliably learned that, the claims of the government and ground reality in Kashmir are poles apart. It is everybody’s question, why the government disallow any responsible Indian citizen including Members of Parliament to enter the territory of Kashmir. Now, the government has spread red-carpet for the European Union MPs,” Viswam has written in his letter.
The central government has clamped down upon any political party from visiting Jammu and Kashmir since August 5 when Article 370 was read down by the Parliament.
“In this background, I seek your permission to visit Kashmir and to meet with the ordinary people. As the leader of the CPI group in parliament and as Editor of the party organ New Age and above all as an Indian citizen, I believe that it is my right to visit my fellow citizens in Kashmir. I earnestly hope that, you will take necessary steps to realise my visit,” wrote Viswam.
The first foreign delegation to visit Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 is scheduled to meet a cross-section of people in Kashmir apart being briefed about security agencies about the ground situation in the Valley.