New Delhi: European Union (EU) Ambassador to India Ugo Astuto — who has twice been to Kashmir as part of the foreign envoys’ visit after the scrapping of Article 370 — said the people in the Valley are now looking towards the “organisation” of the legislative assembly and highlighted that it is crucial to have freedom of expression in democracies and open societies.

“We have interacted with a number of representatives of civil societies, many interlocutors and what we’ve heard is the expectation of further steps to be taken leading to a social, economical, political sphere, including the expectation for the organisation of the state legislative assembly,” he told ThePrint in an interview.

Astuto also said during the visit, he noted the ongoing “developments” in Kashmir and hailed the restoration of 4G connectivity there.

“We’ve taken note of a number of developments, including elections of the District Development Council and very importantly the restoration of 4G internet services. This obviously is very important as freedom of expression is a crucial issue for all open societies and democracies, including European Union and India,” he said. 

The EU envoy was one of the 24 ambassadors who had gone on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir last month. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the visit was aimed at enabling the foreign heads of missions to understand the ground situation in the union territory.

A similar visit was organised by the MEA in February 2020, which Astuto was also a part of.

Source: The Print 

BDST: 1519 HRS, MAR 13, 2021
SMS