Politicians should cooperate and not visit Srinagar: J-K administration

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday urged political leaders to cooperate with authorities and not visit Srinagar as people there will be "inconvenienced".

"At a time when the government is trying to protect the people of Jammu and Kashmir from the threat of cross-border terrorism and attacks by terrorists and separatists and gradually trying to restore public order by controlling miscreants and mischief mongers, attempts should not be made by senior political leaders to disturb the gradual restoration of normal life," the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR) Jammu and Kashmir tweeted.

"Political leaders are requested to cooperate and not visit Srinagar as they would be putting other people to inconvenience. They would also be violating restrictions that are still in place in many areas," it said.

The administration's directive came after reports of a delegation of opposition leaders set to visit Srinagar surfaced earlier today.

The leaders who are to visit Srinagar are Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Anand Sharma, Ghulam Nabi Azad and KC Venugopal, D Raja of CPI, Tiruchi Siva of DMK, RJD's Manoj Jha, Dinesh Trivedi of TMC, Majeed Memon of NCP and Kupendra Reddy of JD(S).

Meanwhile, the DIPR stressed that "senior leaders should understand that top priority would be given to maintaining peace, order and preventing loss of human lives".

Security was heightened in the region after the Centre withdrew special status to Jammu and Kashmir and passed the Jammu and Kashmir (Reorganisation) Act, 2019, bifurcating it into two Union Territories.

On August 8, Azad was also stopped from entering Jammu and Kashmir after reaching the Srinagar airport from the national capital. He blamed the state administration for not allowing the local leaders to meet the people of the area.