15 foreign envoys visit J&K: MEA

The visit is being facilitated by the Government of India. 

The countries who are part of the group are United States, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Fiji, Maldives, Norway, Philippines, Morocco, Argentina, Peru, Niger, Nigeria, Guyana and Togo. 

Since their arrival on Thursday morning, the group had a series of meetings. 

The first meeting was with the security officials to understand the challenges of maintaining security, including the threat of terrorism in the Union Territory. 

This was followed by an interaction with civil society from all walks of life and from all over J&K. 

The group also interacted with the local media as well as a group of political leaders.  

They will have more meetings on Friday in Jammu before returning to Delhi.

The objective of the visit is for the Envoys to see the efforts being made by the Government to bring the situation to normal and see first-hand the impact of series of steps taken by the local Administration to normalize the situation in recent weeks.

The programme was drawn up keeping in mind the threat posed by terrorism and taking adequate precautions for security, the MEA statement said.

The visit was organized following requests from some Envoys based in Delhi to undertake a visit to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. 

"Our consistent position has been that any visit to the Union Territory of J&K by foreign dignitaries will be based on assessment by local administration on the prevailing security situation," said the MEA.

Image Credit: UNI