The Indian opposition leader and former President of Indian Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi led a delegation of the opposition leaders to visit Indian occupied Kashmir on the public invite of the Governor, aiming to assess the ground realities in the valley.
The delegation was detained at the Srinagar airport and sent back to New Delhi within hours of their arrival. While the valley remains under seige and a total communication blackout since August 5, none of the political leaders have been allowed to enter the valley yet. Whereas the Indian Government and media has been putting out fake news of having restored “normalcy” in the valley.
Later on Saturday, Pakistani Foreign Minister S.M. Qureshi held a press conference where he addressed the issue saying that the situation in Kashmir is deteriorating with every passing day.
While referring to the detainment of opposition delegation at the Srinagar airport, he said, “The way they (the delegation) were treated, arrested and deported, put on the next flight back to Delhi. That I categorically said has exposed the true face of this Government. They (Indian) claim to be a democratic government, while their actions in reality are fascist in nature.”
He added, “Today the fascist attitude of the Modi administration was demonstrated at the Srinagar airport”. He said that by not allowing an opposition delegation to enter Kashmir, arresting the spokesperson of the Congress in the middle of a press conference after the deportation, the Indian Government has show its true colors.
FM Qureshi called upon the world democracies to view the airport footage saying, “I call upon democratic nations of the world to view that footage [of the airport]. When they treat their own this way, what expectation can we [Pakistan] have from holding a dialogue with them?”
