Envoys from 16 nations, including US, on two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir starting today

US
Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster will be among envoys of 16 countries who
will undertake a two-day trip to Jammu and Kashmir starting Thursday, officials
said.

The
Delhi-based envoys will fly to Srinagar on Thursday morning before going to
Jammu, the winter capital of the newly created Union Territory, for an
overnight stay. They will meet Lt Governor GC Murmu as well as civil society
members, they said.

Besides
the United States, the delegation will include diplomats from Bangladesh,
Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco and Nigeria, among others.

Brazil’s
envoy André Aranha Correa do Lago was also scheduled to
visit Jammu and Kashmir. However, he backed out because of his preoccupation in
Delhi, the officials said on Wednesday.

According
to the officials, the envoys travelling on Thursday will meet civil society
members and receive a briefing on the security situation from various agencies.

The
officials said the envoys of a number of countries had requested the government
for a visit to Kashmir to get a first-hand account of the situation prevailing
in the Valley following the abrogation of certain provisions of Article 370.

The
move is a part of India’s diplomatic outreach to rebut Pakistan’s propaganda
against it on the Kashmir issue.

This
will be the second visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since the
Centre’s move to revoke the state’s special status and bifurcated it into two
Union territories, Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.