New Delhi: Tourists warned by the government to leave Jammu and Kashmir just days before the state was stripped of its special status will be welcomed back from Thursday, Governor Satya Pal Malik said on Monday.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration’s information department said: “The Governor directed that the Home Department's advisory asking tourists to leave the valley be lifted immediately. This will be done w.e.f. 10.10.2019.”
The government had asked the tourists to curtail their stay in the Valley “immediately” soon after it took the step to call off the annual Amarnath Yatra on August 2, citing "intelligence inputs of terror threats”. Within three days of the move, the Parliament scrapped Article 370 of the Constitution that gave special status to the state.
The administration had also imposed massive security restrictions - arrest of the state’s political leadership, snapping of phone and telephone lines and deployment of additional troops - to prevent any backlash to the controversial move.
The first step was the announcement of the Block Development Council elections in the state, followed by the permission granted to a National Conference delegation to meet detained leaders Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah.
The Governor has been holding situation-cum-security review meetings daily for two hours generally from 6 to 8 pm since August 5. The meetings initially focused on reviewing the security scenario after imposition of restrictions in the wake of constitutional changes.
