MPs should be allowed to visit J-K, says AAP leader

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh on Thursday said that Members of Parliament (MPs) should also be allowed to visit Jammu and Kashmir.

The remarks were made in the backdrop of the two-day visit of a 15-member delegation of envoys from different countries to the region.

"If Members of Parliament (MPs) want to go to Jammu and Kashmir, they should also be allowed. It would enable them to know the situation in the region," Singh told ANI.

The delegation, which includes diplomats from the United States, Maldives, Norway, Argentina, Niger, Togo, Vietnam, Bangladesh, South Korea, Peru, Morocco, among others, is visiting Kashmir to see first-hand the efforts being made by the government in the region.

This is the first visit by diplomats to Jammu and Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution that accorded special status to the region.

Today, they were briefed by Chinar Corps Commander Lieutenant General K J S Dhillon on the security situation in the region.

Prior to that, the envoys met several political leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, including Ghulam Hasan Mir, Altaf Bukhari, Shoaib Iqbal Lone, Hilal Ahmed Shah, Noor Mohd Sheikh, Abdul Majid Padder, Abdul Rahim Rather, and Rafi Ahmed Mir.

Last year a delegation comprising members of the European Parliament had visited the Valley after the abrogation of Article 370.