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India recently invited an international group of 24 envoys to Jammu and Kashmir as part of efforts to showcase "normalcy" a year after the region was stripped of its special semiautonomous status.

Armed guards and officials from the Foreign Ministry accompanied diplomats from Europe,Africa, and Central and South Asian nationsthis week on a tour of Srinagar, Kashmir's largest city.

The envoys were then escorted to the western town of Magam, where they met several officials, including recently elected local body representatives.

"A curated tour of foreign dignitaries to showcase normalcy in the valley to the outside world is misleading," Mirwaiz Umar Farooq,a Kashmir separatist leader, told media.

Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, head of strategic affairs at theAnanta Aspen Center think tank, said India simply "wants to show the envoys the progress made in the region."

"It is now up to the envoys to independently assess the situation," he told DW.

Muslim-majorityKashmirhas been divided between India and Pakistan since they became independent countries in 1947. Both countries claim the region in its entirety. Insurgents in Kashmir have been fighting Indian rule since 1989. Some estimates suggest more than 70,000 peoplehave been killed in the armed conflict.

Prior to the 2019 amendment, Indian-controlledKashmirenjoyed semiautonomous status that gave locals special rights in land ownership and employment.

In August 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government enforced a harsh lockdown in the region, imposing monthlong restrictions on movement and suspending internet and telephone services. Additional troops were deployed, and all major Kashmiri politicians were placed under house arrest. Thousands of civil society members and activists were detained.

Though internet services have been restored, outside access to the region remains limited. Foreign journalists are not allowed in except ones approved by the government with a guided visit.

Reports of torture, disappearances and human rights violationsin Kashmir have raised concerns across the European Union.

In the months that ensued after the territory was stripped of its status in 2019, the bloc urged India and Pakistan to resolve the conflict through dialogue and come to a peaceful bilateral resolution.

The European Union emphasized a solution that respects the interests of the Kashmiri population on both sides of the India-Pakistan border, also called the Line of Control.

Analyst Chaudhuri said that, though the European Union has shown solidarity with Kashmiris regarding human rights, it regards India-administered Kashmir as "India's sovereign matter" and has failed to make the armed conflict a priority in recent years.

The European Union's statement atthe UN Human Rights Council in September 2019 did not mention Kashmir on its list of pressing human rights situations.

Mahum Shabir, a legal researcher on Kashmir at City University New York, believes that the recent Kashmir visit by some EU diplomats won't make a big difference.

"There is little that would signal an actual policy shift," she told DW, adding that the EU has a "legal obligation" to slap sanctions on India.

Shabir also criticized the EU for failing to address "the larger question of the military occupation of Kashmir and the aftermath of the abrogation of the region'sspecial status" in its 2019 parliamentary debates.

"Kashmir is inaccurately and exclusively viewed from a so-called national security lens This perspective will not help advance the security situation in the Indian subcontinent," Shabir said, adding that EU-India relations seem to have remained "unaffected" despite the ongoing conflict in Kashmir.

Following a visit to India in November 2019, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told journalists that the situation in Kashmir was "not good and not sustainable." She, however, focused on matters concerning bilateral cooperation in her official statements.

In late October 2019, members of the the European Parliament from largely far-right parties visitedIndian-administered Kashmir. Among them were two MEPs from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and six members from Marine Le Pen's National Rally in France.

The delegates, known for their anti-Muslim rhetoric, triggered outrage from opposition parties and civil society groups throughout India.

Chaudhuri thinks the move was a "public relationsstunt" by the Indiangovernment.

"It was completely unnecessary. This need for recognition showed insecurity. Modi's government needs to restart the democratic process in Kashmir so that there is no need for a PR stunt like that," he said.

In 1947, British India was divided into two countries - India and Pakistan. Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah and his All-India Muslim League party had first demanded autonomy for Muslim-majority areas in the undivided India, and only later a separate country for Muslims. Jinnah believed that Hindus and Muslims could not continue to live together, as they were distinctly different "nations."

The partition of British India was extremely violent. Following the birth of India and Pakistan, violent communal riots began in many western areas, mostly in Punjab. Historians say that more than a million people died in clashes, and millions more migrated from Indian territory to Pakistan and from the Pakistani side to India.

India and Pakistan clashed over Kashmir soon after their independence. The Muslim-majority Kashmir region was ruled by a Hindu leader, but Jinnah wanted it to be part of Pakistani territory. Indian and Pakistani troops fought in Kashmir in 1948, with India taking control of most part of the valley, while Pakistan occupied a smaller area. India and Pakistan continue to clash over Kashmir.

Liberal historians say that Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi wanted cordial ties between newly independent states. Jinnah, for instance, believed that ties between India and Pakistan should be similar to those between the US and Canada. But after his death in 1948, his successors followed a collision course with New Delhi.

Indian and Pakistani governments present very different accounts of the partition. While India emphasizes the Indian National Congress' freedom movement against British rulers - with Gandhi as its main architect - Pakistani textbooks focus on a "struggle" against both British and Hindu "oppression." State propaganda in both countries paints each other as an "enemy" that cannot be trusted.

Diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan have remained acrimonious for the past seven decades. The issue of Islamist terrorism has marred relations in the last few years, with New Delhi accusing Islamabad of backing Islamist jihadists to wage a war in India-administered Kashmir. India also blames Pakistan-based groups for launching terror attacks on Indian soil. Islamabad denies these claims.

Many young people in both India and Pakistan are urging their governments to improve bilateral ties. Islamabad-based documentary filmmaker Wajahat Malik believes the best way for India and Pakistan to develop a closer relationship is through more interaction between their peoples. "Trade and tourism are the way forward for us. When people come together, the states will follow suit," Malik told DW.

Author: Shamil Shams

See more here:
What is the EU's stand on the Kashmir conflict? - DW (English)