Srinagar: Not even a single prominent political, trade or civil society group was invited by the administration to meet the 24-member European-African delegation during its two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir.
Neither the National Conference (NC) nor the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was invited. NC Spokesperson Imran Dar told Kashmir Reader that no one from the party was invited.
Sheikh Ashiq, the leader of Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), the largest trade body in Kashmir, said that it too was not invited. Muhammad Yasin Khan, president of Kashmir Traders and Manufactures Federation (KTMF), which represents over 2.5 lakh shopkeepers, said no invitation was received from the government. President of Kashmir Hotel and Restaurant Owners Association, Abdul Wahid Malik, said he was not invited.
“I am in Maharastra for tourism promotion, and no one has invited us,” he told Kashmir Reader.
Nor was any member of the Kashmir Press Club, the largest body of journalists in Kashmir, invited. President of the Editors Guild of Kashmir Sajad Hyder told Kashmir Reader they the body was not invited either.
“Names were sought from us to meet with the delegates. We suggested some names but received no call,” Hyder said.
Then who actually met them?
One of them is Jag Mohan Singh Raina, provincial president of the Apni Party and Chairman of All Party Sikh Coordination Committee, a representative body of 35 Sikh groups. He said he met the delegation in the capacity of a social worker, nothing else.
“I met them individually in capacity of a social worker, and nothing else,” he told Kashmir Reader. “And I was invited by the administration. The meeting was held at SKICC.” He said there were other groups of people who met the delegation, but they were all “unknown to him.’
“During my meeting I appraised the delegation about the destruction caused by the political problem to the economic landscape of Kashmir. I told them that educated youth remain jobless because of it. Also I told them that we are not being fed water of fresh water bodies but treated water,” he added.
Baldev Singh Raina of the Kashmir chapter of all-India body PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was invited. He attended the meeting, said one of the body’s members on the condition of anonymity.
The foreign delegates met Mayor of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), Junaid Azim Mattu, newly elected DDC Chairpersons, BDC Chairpersons and Municipal Council Chairpersons.
A group of eight media representatives was invited, one of them said. He told Kashmir Reader that the owners shared the opinion that “press is free in Kashmir; there is a governance problem.”
Among the eight were a female TV reporter, a senior print media reporter, and owners of news agencies and newspapers.
Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Shahid Chowdhary was not available for his comments on this matter.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz