NEW DELHI, July 23: India escorted the defence attaches of 15 diplomatic missions from New Delhi for a tour of Kashmir on Tuesday, but the foreign ministry indicated a delegation of British MPs apparently seeking to visit the Himalayan region and strife-torn Gujarat as observers, may not be given visas, Indian media reports said.

“The Ministry of External Affairs has made up its mind to deny visas to a team of Labour Party MPs from Britain if they intend to travel to Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir as observers, rediff.com, a web-based news agency, quoted a source in the foreign ministry as saying.

“We have not been informed officially by the high commissioner about their impending visit. But if they apply for visas to observe the situation in the two states, we will say sorry. They are not welcome as observers.

“India is very unhappy over the proposed visit. We would like to know their real purpose behind the visit,” he added.

The British MPs told the press in London that they intended to visit Gujarat and J&K “to get a clearer picture of the situation on the ground.”

Many of these MPs had a sizable number of Muslims in their constituencies, rediff said.

Earlier, in a formal comment on the issue, however, a foreign ministry spokesperson said there was no information about the reported visit of a team of British Members of Parliament to Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir.

“I have no information about it,” MEA spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said when asked by rediff.com to comment on the reported visit of an eight-member team of British Labour Party MPs led by Terry Rooney.

The team of British MPs, according to media reports, would be spending three days in Gujarat and three in Jammu and Kashmir. Rooney has reportedly accused India of denying the “enormity of the killings in Gujarat” and had “dismissed” India’s position that the violence in Gujarat was an internal affair.

Significantly, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also recently raised the alleged killing of two British citizens of Gujarati origin.

A senior foreign ministry official, not wishing to be identified, reportedly responded thus: “As a sovereign, democratic nation, whose democratic credentials are well established, we do not need to be lectured on what we should do in our internal affairs, whether it is Gujarat or Jammu and Kashmir.”

He said the very fact that leaders from the international community freely keep visiting India for diplomatic and other reasons shows “that we are an open society.”

Meanwhile, Zee News channel said as part of India’s diplomatic offensive against cross-border infiltration, defence attaches from 15 countries, including United States, UK and Japan, were taken on Tuesday around the border areas of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir to apprise them of the prevailing situation there.

The attaches, who started a three-day tour of the border areas of the state, later visited the army headquarters in Srinagar and were briefed about the situation by senior army officers, official sources told Zee News.

The diplomats would visit the border areas of Uri in Baramulla district and Kupwara sector in North Kashmir on Wednesday, they said.

They are scheduled to meet governor GC Saxena and chief minister Farooq Abdullah.

During their stay in Kashmir, the defence attaches would meet senior military commanders and civil officials.

They would be briefed by army officials about the situation and steps being taken by India to counter what New Delhi claims is Pakistan-sponsored infiltration.