New Delhi, October 30: Amid the ongoing visit of the European Union (EU) parliamentary delegation to Jammu and Kashmir, reports have surfaced that their trip was organised by a non-governmental organisation or NGO run by Madi Sharma. Reports said Madi Sharma's NGO, Women’s Eco-Nomic and Social Think-Tank (WESTT), was instrumental in facilitating EU MPs' trip to Jammu and Kashmir to assess the ground situation post Article 370 repeal. Europe Should Mediate in Kashmir Issue If India And Pakistan Want, Says EU MP Bernhard Zimniok During Visit to Valley.

On Twitter, Madi Sharma describes her as 'Social Capitalist: International Business Broker, Educational Entrepreneur and Speaker'. Netizens have dug out more details about EU MPs' trip to Jammu and Kashmir and Madi Sharma. According to a Twitter thread by a leading journalist, Sharma sent an invite to Members of European Parliament (MEPs) in an e-mail where she mentioned that a Delhi-based think tank called the International Institute of Non-Aligned Studies will bear expenses of the trip. This raises eyebrows as on whose behalf Sharma invited EU MPs and what's her locus standi on the issue.

In the invitation, Sharma also promised EU MPs a 'meeting with PM Narendra Modi as well as a visit to Kashmir'. It raises the question that how an NGO can promise a meeting with the Prime Minister. As promised, EU MPs met PM Modi, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Delhi before heading for Kashmir. The EU delegation visited Kashmir on Tuesday where they were briefed by top army commanders. EU Delegation to Visit Jammu & Kashmir Tomorrow: Full List of Members in the European Union Panel And Who Will They be Meeting.

Who is Madi Sharma? Here's What Netizens Have Found

Madi Sharma is a member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), a consultative body of the European Union. "She is a business ambassador for Nottingham and a business champion for the East Midlands," reads her profile on the EESC website. Her NGO WESTT lobbies to raise awareness on key issues but never for commercial gain, her website says.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 30, 2019 10:06 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).