Group of 24 Foreign Heads of Missions reach Srinagar

A delegation of 24 envoys visited the historic Hazratbal shrine on the banks of Dal Lake on Wednesday on the first day of their visit to Jammu and Kashmir to take a first-hand account of the situation in newly-carved union territory.The shrine contains a holy relic, a strand of hair of Prophet Muhammad. The custodian explained to the visiting dignitaries the importance of the shrine to the people, especially those living in Kashmir Valley.He also gave an account of how the holy relic was brought to Kashmir from Medina in Saudi Arabia in 1634 by a traveller. The delegation of envoys is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir for making an assessment of the situation post the abrogation of the erstwhile state's special status in 2019.

The delegation, which comprised envoys from Europe, Africa, South America and Asia, were taken to a government college in Budgam in central Kashmir where they were received by the administration and briefed about the strengthening of local bodies, including panchayat, officials said. Earkiar, the group visited Magam in Budgam District of Central Kashmir to witness the 'Block Diwas', a public outreach initiative organised every week by the local administrations in Jammu and Kashmir. The visit also provided the envoys an opportunity to interact and hear directly from the general public and their local level people’s representatives on the functioning and empowerment of grass root democratic institutions, devolution of power, developmental activities, local issues, grievance redress mechanisms among others. Their program in Srinagar involves interaction with elected representatives of Block Development Council and District Development Council from across the UT of J&K, civil society members and mainstream media.