In a major blow to Pakistan, several Ministers of European Parliament (MEPs) have called out the Islamic nation for providing "sanctuary" to terrorists and for promoting terrorism across LoC in India.
During a session- 'Situation in Kashmir' on Tuesday, the MEPs termed the revocation of Article 370, which accorded special status to people of Jammu and Kashmir, an internal matter of New Delhi and urged European Union to respect the "sovereignty of India".
European Conservatives and Reformists Group's Geoffrey Van Orden said that Pakistan has allowed its special services to support "suppression and terrorism" across the Line of Control (LoC) since its inception. He also said that Islamabad has illegally occupied the parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
"Kashmir is one of the beautiful parts of India. For the last 70 years, it had an unsettled status and had been under threat by externally sponsored terrorism and extremism. At last, there is an opportunity to rectify this situation. Legally the whole territory should have been the part of India but instead, it was invaded and partly occupied by Pakistan which then allowed its special services to support suppression and terrorism costing 1000s of lives across the LoC," he said.
He said that after the historic changes by India, people of Jammu and Kashmir will receive equal rights as the rest of the country.
"Under temporary article of 370 of India Constitution people lived under the different locally imposed rule. Now the change brought in by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give the same rights to people of Kashmir as those in the rest of India. We should look at what happening in Pakistan if we really want to see abuse of rights of woman religious minorities and transgender people," Orden said.
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Terming Pakistan a source of nuclear proliferation, the British MP said, "It has given sanctuary to terrorist organisations and leaders and it promotes terrorism across Loc into India."
Orden also called for constructive dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the dispute.
Echoing the similar sentiments as Orden, Italian politician Fulvio Martusciello said: "India is the greatest democracy of the world. We need to take a broader look (to study the situation)... we need to look at terrorist incidents taken place in India and also the state of Jammu and Kashmir. These terrorists did not land from the moon they were coming from the neighbouring country. We should support democratic India."
Supporting the Indian stance over Kashmir issue, Slovakian politician Milan Uhrik said that reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir is an "internal matter" of India
" We are relying on secondary information as we truly don't know what is happening in India .....It never happened that the India parliament has interfered and condemned any EU country for its internal policies. We should do the same we should respect the sovereignty of India as it is not our task," he added.
Germany's Bernhard Zimniok, representing Identity and Democracy Group, said that EU must act as a "neutral broker" instead of taking sides.
Several MEPs also raised concern over the current lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir following the India August 05 decision. "The current situation is deteriorating as thousands of soldiers are being sent to Jammu and Kashmir," said Belgium leader Marie Arena.
The European Union urged India and Pakistan to engage in a direct dialogue with a view to find a peaceful solution of Kashmir dispute.
The High Representative of European Union for Foreign Affairs and Vice President of European Commission Federica Mogherini, EU Minister Tytti Tuppurainen said that no one could afford another escalation in Kashmir.
She urged India and Pakistan to seek a peaceful and political solution, respectful of interest of Kashmiri population on both sides of the Line of Control.