Kashmir, Jan 9: US Ambassador to India Kenneth I Juster along with envoys from 15 other countries arrived in Srinagar on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, the first visit by diplomats since the abrogation of the erstwhile state's special status in August last year.
The Delhi-based envoys arrived in Srinagar by a special chartered flight at Srinagar's technical airport where top officials from the newly carved out union territory received them, officials said.
Later in the day, they would be going to Jammu, the winter capital of the newly created Union Territory, for an overnight stay. They will meet Lt Governor G C Murmu as well as civil society members, they said.
Besides the US, the delegation will include diplomats from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Norway, Maldives, South Korea, Morocco, and Nigeria, among others.
Brazil's envoy Andre Aranha Correa do Lago was also scheduled to visit Jammu and Kashmir. However, he backed out because of his preoccupation here, the officials said on Wednesday.
Envoys from the European Union (EU) countries are understood to have conveyed that they will visit the union territory on a different date and are also believed to have stressed on meeting the three former chief ministers -- Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti -- who are under detention.
Officials said envoys of several countries had requested the government for a visit to Kashmir to get a first-hand account of the situation in the Valley following the August 5 decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 and bifurcate it into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
This is the second visit of a foreign delegation to Jammu and Kashmir since August 5. Earlier, Delhi-based think tank International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, a Delhi-based think tank took 23 EU MPs on a two-day visit to assess the situation in the union territory.
The government had distanced itself from the visit with Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy informing Parliament that the European parliamentarians were on a "private visit".
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Good joke....,it took RSS 100 years to make transformation from wearing chaddi to pant.
Highly irresponsible, unwaranted statement and an open insult to our brave soldiers who have been sacrificing their lives to save us. Our soldiers fight with bombs & bullets where as these half naked RSS dance with balls and lathis. If he is a MAN, let him dare to ask our military to go to their barracks for ONE day and let his RSS take their positions. This man is a shame to our nation!!
Mr Bhaqwatjii RSS ki LATHI SE Kuch kam nahi hote bai...AAKAL KI BAAT KAROO..
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