Even as a delegation of 23 EU MPs arrived in Srinagar on Tuesday for a first-hand assessment of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed the Centre saying the members who are visiting Jammu and Kashmir are "Nazi lovers" and suffer from "Islamophobia".
Slamming the BJP-led Centre for its decision to grant permission to MPs who belong to far-right parties for the visit, the Hyderabad MP said, "Fantastic choice of MEPs who suffer from a disease -Islamophobia (Nazi lovers) are going to Muslim majority Valley, sure people will welcome them by 'Ware Paeth Khoshh Paeth'," he tweeted.
During the visit, the EU MPs were briefed by government officials on the prevailing situation in the Valley as well as other parts of Jammu and Kashmir. The team also met a cross-section of people.
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This is the first high-level foreign delegation visit to Kashmir after the August 5 decision of the Central government announcing the abrogation of provisions of Article 370 and the decision to bifurcate the state into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
The National Conference too flayed the Centre over the visit of MPs calling it a "PR exercise." "The visit of the selected EU MPs, largely of a particular ideology, is clearly a PR exercise. It is ironical that European MPs are visiting the Valley when the state's leaders including three former Chief Ministers, are incarcerated for nearly three months now, and hundreds of others are in jails across the country," the NC said in a statement.
(With PTI inputs)