Government invites envoys in Delhi to visit J&K

NEW DELHI: India has invited ambassadors of various countries to visit Jammu and Kashmir this week to see for themselves the situation on the ground months after the government withdrew the special status given to the erstwhile state under Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcated it into two Union territories.

Delhi-based envoys of several countries have been invited for the first such visit since the August 5, 2019 decision, said people aware of the matter. They said the visit of envoys could take place in batches. Earlier, almost 100 ambassadors had visited Amritsar at the government’s invitation ahead of the Kartarpur corridor opening.

The move comes in the wake of restoration of broadband internet service in government-run hospitals and SMS facilities on all mobile phones after more than four and a half months of suspension.


Internet services as well as landline and mobile phones were snapped across the Valley ahead of the August 5 announcement in Parliament.

Five political leaders, who had been under preventive detention since then, have also been released from the MLA hostel in Srinagar, although former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah remain under detention.