"We are not here to intervene in India's internal politics," EU MPs said.
The members of European Parliament who are visiting Jammu and Kashmir to assess the ground situation on Wednesday said that abrogation of Article 370 was an internal decision of the country and they "fully support India in its efforts for lasting peace and end of terror."
Addressing a press conference in Srinagar, four members of the 23-member delegation stated that people of the region want peace and development. There is an atmosphere of development in J&K, they said, adding that people have many expectations from the government.
"We are not here to intervene in India's internal politics," one of the EU MPs said.
The 27-member delegation of the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday but only 23 of them are visiting Kashmir. They are visiting India in their personal capacity and not as official EU delegation.
Meeting select members of the press in Srinagar, one EU MP said he does not want to see Kashmir turned into Syria.
"Last month I was in Syria and I saw the destruction terrorism can cause. We do not want Kashmir to end up like that," he was quoted as saying by NDTV.
Stressing that India is a peace-loving nation, the 4 MPs - Henri Malosse and Thierry Mariani from France, Ryszard Czarnecki from Poland and Bill Newton Dunn from the United Kingdom - said they took a dig at Pakistan saying that the country causes trouble to the Christian community residing in the country.
They, however, stressed that they want to see India and Pakistan talks.
This is the first visit by an international delegation since the government ended Jammu and Kashmir's special status. The state has been split it into two union territories which will come into effect on October 31.
On Tuesday, the EU MPs had meetings with army officials and were taken on a shikara ride on the Dal Lake under heavy security. On the day of their visit, terrorists struck civilians in Kulgam district and killed 5 labourers from West Bengal. This is the fifth such attack by terrorists on non-Kashmiri civilians in the valley after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5.
The MEPs also condemned the killing of innocent civilians by terrorists in the past few days.
Nicolaus Fest, one of the visiting MPs urged the government to let opposition politicians from India to visit Kashmir to "address the disbalance."
"I think if you let in European Union parliamentarians, you should also let in opposition politicians from India. So there is some kind of disbalance, the government should somehow address it," Fest said.
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