NEW DELHI: Although The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been invited by India to visit Jammu and Kashmir it is yet to set a date in apprehension that their trip may be utilized for political purposes.
Mr. Jean Michel Monod Delegate General for Asia and the Pacific who was in India for a three-day visit that the ICRC had reached an agreement with the Ministry of Home Affairs to conduct a survey in J&K and propose its own programs in the troubled Kashmir Valley.
The ICRC modalities are perfectly acceptable to the Government. Monod said. We are to review the human it and situation in the State and see what ICRC activities can take place there.
Monod was reluctant to discuss when he was likely to visit. For one thing he has to go to the ICRC headquarters in Geneva before a date is finalized. More importantly he does not want interested countries be they Pakistan the US or even India to use the trip for their own political ends.
The subject has been politicized and we are not a political organization Monod pointed out. We will go at a time when it is not likely to be utilized for political Purposes.
A reason the Government has agreed to allow the ICRC to visit the Valley besides the fact it is a human it an organization is its indisputable neutral and apolitical character making it even more respected than organizations such as Amnesty International.
Article extracted from this publication >> February 18, 1994
