British insurance companies are now giving cover to tourists who intend to visit Kashmir.
“Earlier, the insurance companies were not giving any cover to British tourists because of the travel advisory issued by that country. This shows some sort of a softening of the British stand,” J&K tourism minister Nawang Rigzin Jora said.
Several western countries had issued travel advisories to their citizens not to visit Kashmir after the abduction of six foreign tourists by Al Faran, a shadow outfit of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen near Pahalgam in July 1995.
Militants later beheaded Norwegian Hans Ostro but American John Chides managed to escape from their dragnet. Fates of four other tourists, including American Donald Fred Hutchings, Britons Paul Wells and Keith Mangan and German Dirk Hasert remains a mystery till date.
It’s been 20 years since militancy erupted in J&K. The state government is trying its best to convince foreign diplomats to withdraw the advisories. The state government had hosted a golf tournament for diplomats from 25 Commonwealth nations last October. The subtext was to convince them to withdraw the advisories.
Comments