Naya Kashmir: India opens J&K’s borders for the world, any Human Rights commission and parliamentarians can visit

Following the Government’s move to restore 4G telecommunications facilities across the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), the Government is now said to be planning to organise another visit of foreign diplomats to the UT this month.

The group of diplomats who will be visiting J&K in the likely visit is expected to include Ambassadors from European and Gulf nations. The group will likely engage with some of the newly elected District Development Council (DDC) members.

It is also expected that the security agencies will brief the diplomats about the threats emanating out of cross-border terrorism sponsored and facilitated by the neighbouring Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

The visit will be the third official one by foreign diplomats of to Jammu and Kashmir since the government’s decision to amend Article 370 and divide the State into two Union Territories (Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh) on August 5, 2019. A delegation of Members of the European Parliament had also visited the UT in October 2019, but the visit had run into controversies over its sponsorship and had been described by the government as a “personal” visit.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that the government has decided to resettle all displaced Kashmiri Pandits in the valley by 2022 along with creating 25,000 jobs for the people there and train connectivity to the region.

The Minister said that the government provides Rs 13,000 per month to the families of 44,000 Kashmiri Pandits who have relief cards. “The government also provides free ration and has plans to settle them back in their houses in the Valley by 2022.”

The Home Minister was replying to the discussion on the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill of 2021 which was passed in the Lok Sabha.