Govt to take second batch of foreign envoys to J&K this week

The Government is set to take the second group of foreign envoys for a tour to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) this week.

The second group of envoys visiting Jammu and Kashmir will include top diplomats of the countries spread over “different geographical regions”, sources said on Monday.

This is the second time New Delhi is allowing official representatives of foreign governments to visit J&K since August 5, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government initiated the process to strip it of its special status and reorganize it into two Union Territories.

The Government had on January 8 and 9 first taken a group of 15 foreign envoys to Srinagar to help them have a first-hand assessment of the efforts being made by it to bring the situation in J&K to normal.

Sources said that the government had organized the second visit by the foreign envoys as it had received several requests for such tours since the last visit of the ambassadors and high commissioners to the newly created union territory.

The second group of foreign envoys visiting J&K would have nearly 25 envoys, including about 10 from the countries in Europe.

The first batch had not included any envoy from any country in Europe.