Cheap car rentals in India - Areas of Instability and Terrorism

Book car rentals in India now!

Areas of Instability and Terrorism

AREAS OF INSTABILITY AND TERRORISM:

JAMMU and KASHMIR: The Department of State recommends that U.S. citizens avoid travel to the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir. A number of terrorist groups operate in Jammu and Kashmir, and military movements continue along the Line of
Control separating Indian and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir.

Since 1989, more than 60,000 people have been killed in the Kashmir conflict, including more than 1,000 civilians in 2002 alone. The state’s summer capital of Srinagar is particularly susceptible to terrorist attacks. In March 2003, unidentified gunmen killed 24 Hindu Pandits, including 11 women and 2 children, in the southern Kashmiri town of Shopian. In October 2001, a bomb exploded at the Jammu and Kashmir State Assembly complex, killing 38 people and injuring over 100 others. The few tourists who go to these areas are quite visible and vulnerable and definitely at risk. Occasionally, even the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir has been affected by terrorist violence. In 2000, Kashmiri terrorists in Ladakh's Zanskar region killed a German tourist. U.S. Government employees are prohibited from traveling to the state of Jammu and Kashmir without permission from the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi.

In 1999, the terrorist organization Harakat Ul Mujahideen issued a ban on U.S. citizens, including tourists, visiting Kashmir. In 1995, the terrorist organization Al Faran kidnapped seven Western tourists, including two U.S. citizens, who were trekking in Kashmir valley. One of the hostages was brutally murdered, another escaped, and the other five -including one U.S. citizen - have never been found. Srinagar has also been the site of a great deal of violence, including car bombings, market bombings, and land-mine deaths. In recent years, several tourists, including at least one U.S. citizen, have been fatally shot or wounded in Srinagar. In May 2000, a land-mine explosion south of Srinagar killed a minister for the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Also in May 2000, rocket-propelled grenades fired at a government building in Srinagar killed a government employee and wounded others. In late 2002, elections, which were generally considered free and fair, were held in Jammu and Kashmir, but they were marred by multiple terrorist attacks that often killed or injured innocent civilians.