The visit of a delegation of foreign envoys led by US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster to Kashmir on January 10, 2020 has again sparked a political row. While the government is within its rights to organize the visit of such a high profile delegation to counter the narrative of Pakistan on Kashmir, the Opposition has termed it as a “guided tour” at a time when three former chief minister including a sitting member of the parliament, have been placed under detention. According to media reports, the delegation was escorted from the Srinagar airport to the headquarters of the Army’s strategic 15 Corps at Badami Bagh where they were briefed about the security situation. They later met with a political delegation, civil society members and media-persons as well as a select group of Panchayat members at a private hotel. If newspaper reports are to be believed, some envoys were “surprised” to see the “hustle and bustle” in Srinagar which they say is in sharp contrast with the picture presented by some sections of media. There is no denying that the tensions in Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile state into two union territories have eased up significantly. Although the prevailing winter chill has shortened our work hours, businesses are now open from morning to evening, as against a specific morning schedule, and public and private transport is running normally. Board exams have been conducted and results are being declared, exams are going on at college and university level. While these daily necessities can be interpreted as signs of ‘normalcy’ that have the power to corrupt even the keen eyes of foreign diplomats, it is very difficult to explain, if normalcy has indeed returned, as the government is claiming, why is the top leadership of National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party still behind bars. Why is both the broadband and mobile internet suspended? How did a bright young man who till yesterday was the poster boy of ‘change’ that New Delhi wanted to see in Kashmir become a traitor whose mere presence on the scene can jeopardize the ‘national security’ of the country? How did a man who shunned separatism and embraced the idea of India’s secular democracy become a threat to law and order? No matter how much we try to dress up the cake, we can’t deny these harsh realities.