SRINAGAR, 17 February, 2021, (TON): In India illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir selected delegation of 24-members of envoys and ambassadors of European Union (EU) and other foreign countries arrived in Srinagar on Wednesday to assess the ground situation of the region by meeting with local civil society groups, political leaders and students.

EU Ambassador Ugo Astuto is leading the delegation.

The delegation will visit places outside Srinagar and interact with students at a government college in Magam area of central Kashmir's Budgam, according to Indian media.

No senior regional party leader is meeting the visiting envoys.

All shops and other business establishments are closed while traffic is off the roads in Srinagar and other areas of the Kashmir Valley.

Call for the strike has been given by the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, which is supported by all pro-freedom leaders and organizations to remind the international community of its legal and moral responsibilities regarding resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

Hurriyat leaders and organizations in their separate statements said the Indian government has conducted these kinds of sponsored visits in the past too but it has miserably failed in its attempts to mislead the international community. They said New Delhi’s false narrative on Jammu and Kashmir finds no takers at international level as the civilized world knows as how brazenly the BJP government has violated the international humanitarian laws by holding millions of Kashmir hostage for the past several months.

This is the third visit by foreign diplomats to IIOJK 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.

Modi government has planned to show normalcy in IIOJK by moving many bunkers from various parts of Srinagar city.

Officials said that at least five bunkers were removed from Srinagar areas of which two were lifted from Lal Chowk.

After the revocation of Kashmir’s special status, Indian media and officials have repeatedly insisted that Kashmir is “limping” back to normalcy. Currently, there are more than half a million Indian soldiers stationed in Kashmir. Many Indian army camps are located adjacent to residential areas and, in some cases, entire villages are surrounded. Cordon and search operations are a regular occurred in IIOJK. However, these visits are tightly controlled and leave little room for making an independent judgement of the situation.