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Human rights issues in J&K be settled by India: EU
Kashmir Times. Dated: 2/23/2017 1:59:34 PM
NEW DELHI, Feb 22 (Agencies): The issues of alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir should be settled by Indian institutions, The European Union said on Wednesday, remarks that come against the backdrop of Pakistan's repeated attempts to internationalise it. It, however, chided India for blocking foreign funding to several NGOs.
Chairperson of European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee David McAllister said the panel is working on are port on EU's political ties with India with focus on human rights issues and it will be finalised ahead of the EU-India summit around September this year.
McAllister, leading a delegation of the European Parliament here, called the "conflict" in Jammu and Kashmir a "very sensitive" issue, and added India has suffered a lot because of terrorism.
Talking about EU's philosophy of diplomatic engagements, he said the issue of human rights was embedded in its foreign policy.
"The reports of human rights violations (in J&K have to be settled by India's domestic institutions," the chair of the powerful committee said.
The comment assumes significance as Pakistan has been consistently flagging the issue on international forum and seeking UN's intervention while accusing the Indian establishment of human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir.
The EU, on some occasions, had appeared sympathetic to Pakistan's demands.
Referring to the Indian government refusing to renew the foreign funding licences of around 20,000 NGOs, another prominent member of the Committee Preda Cristian Dan said crackdown on NGOs dealing with human rights issues was unacceptable.
He said some EU member countries also donated money to NGOs for promoting human rights and wondered why authorities in some countries restricted their activities.
"We do not understand why government wants to block activities of organisations dealing with human rights. This is unacceptable," Dan said.
He said the problems of NGOs working for the rights of children and women in India will be flagged by the delegation during its meeting with Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi.