Watch: Jammu and Kashmir elections: What message does New Delhi want to send?

With the government taking diplomats of 15 countries to the Kashmir valley for a specially organised tour, we look at the diplomatic impact of the ongoing Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections for India

This week, we are speaking about Jammu Kashmir, where voters have now participated in 3 phases of polling for the first state elections in a decade and the message New Delhi is sending out over it.

The issue over Kashmir also came up in the UN General Assembly last week, although compared to previous years it was only Pakistan that raised it, and not countries like Turkey and Malaysia.

The Pakistan Prime Minister accused India of implementing a “final solution” for people in Jammu Kashmir since 2019. India’s response came quickly, in a series of responses at the UN, led by EAM Jaishankar.

Away from the UN, India sent out a message on Jammu Kashmir on the ground, as elections there got underway:

This was the first election since 2014, but more importantly the first since 2019, when the government made radical changes to the State, amended article 370 and clamped down on security in the newly created Union Territories.

- While many embassies had requested to go independently, most were refused.

- And no foreign journalists based in India or working for foreign media were allowed to visit the state and cover the election