MHA: No restrictions on any Indian to visit J&K

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 11

The Ministry of Home Affairs has said any Indian citizen can visit the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and there are no restrictions on such visit (post the revocation of Article 370).

“There are no restrictions on the visit of any Indian citizen to the UT of J&K,” said G Kishan Reddy, Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs. Reddy was responding to a query of various members of the Lok Sabha regarding the time by which the government proposes to allow the Indian delegates to visit the J&K.

The Union Minister said a group of resident Heads of Missions (HoMs) from 15 countries — Argentina, Bangladesh, Fiji, Guyana, Maldives, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Peru, South Korea, Togo, the United States and Vietnam had visited the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) on January 9 and 10 and met the civil administration, political leaders, representatives of the civil society, including youth from ethnic, religious and socio-economic communities and representatives of mainstream media from Kashmir and the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community.

“The visit was organised in view of the requests received from foreign missions based in Delhi with a view to have a better understanding of the situation in the UT of J&K,” he said.

During their visit, the HoMs interacted freely, met various people and could see the prevailing normalcy in the UT of J&K.