NEW DELHI: Just after landing at the Delhi airport after being sent back from Srinagar, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that the media persons who were with the delegation were mishandled and beaten up and the situation in Jammu and Kashmir “clearly is not normal”.

A delegation of opposition leaders led by Rahul Gandhi was denied permission to step out of Srinagar airport and was sent back an hour after landing in the city. The delegation was visiting Srinagar to review the situation weeks after Satya Pal Malik invited Rahul Gandhi to visit the Valley.

After landing at the Delhi airport, Rahul Gandhi said that the delegation wanted to get a sense of what people were going through in the region but “we were not allowed beyond the airport”.

Rahul Gandhi said, “Some days ago I was invited by the governor to visit J&K. I accepted the invitation. We wanted to get a sense of what people are going through, but we weren’t allowed beyond the airport. Press people with us were mishandled, beaten. It’s clear that the situation in J&K isn’t normal.”

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who was accompanying Rahul Gandhi on his visit to Kashmir, said that the situation in Srinagar is “terrifying”.

“We weren’t allowed to go to the city, but the situation in J&K is terrifying. The stories we heard from the passengers of Kashmir present in our flight, would bring tears even to a stone,” Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

Speaking to India Today TV, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury said that the delegation was detained at the Srinagar airport. He also said that it was “baseless” to say that the delegation went to Kashmir to create law and order situation.

“We were detained at Srinagar airport. We should have been allowed. We decided we will respond to allegations. It is baseless to say we went there to create law and order situation,” Sitaram Yechury said.