New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir will be open to tourists from Thursday, more than two months after a security advisory asked them to leave the state immediately due to a “terror threat”.
The decision to lift the curb was announced by the governor Satya Pal Malik on Monday following a “situation-cum-security review” meeting with the advisers and the chief secretary.
Thousands of tourists, pilgrims, workers and students from other states had to leave Jammu and Kashmir early August after authorities issued a security alert over possible terrorist attacks.
According to officials in the tourist department, about 20,000 to 25,000 visitors were present in the valley, which was in its peak tourist season at that time.
Telephone and internet services were suspended and public movements restricted in many areas hours before the centre announced its Article 370 move.
The centre also imposed massive security restrictions and took measures that included arresting politicians and posting extra troops to prevent any backlash.
Some of those curbs have been slowly relaxed, but mobile and internet communications in the Kashmir Valley are largely still blocked.
1.74 lakh tourists visited Kashmir in June, followed by 1.52 lakh, including 3,403 foreigners, in July, according to official figures.
The government has also re-opened higher secondary schools, colleges and universities on Wednesday. Security forces were stationed outside the prestigious Sri Pratap College in Srinagar. They were allowing students on the campus after checking their identity cards.
