Srinagar: While foreign envoys are on trip to Kashmir, a question being asked to one of the Afghsn envoy is doing rounds on Twitter.
The second batch of foreign envoys took a tour of the famous Dal lake in Kashmir upon reaching Srinagar on Wednesday morning to assess the ground situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
The 25-member delegation checked into a hotel in Srinagar and then were taken to a boat ride in Dal lake.
The question stems from the curiosity of Kashmiris who have been using Virtual Private Networks to bypass the social media ban.
Tahir Qadiry, who hails from Afghanistan and is part of the 25-members envoys, has posted a number of tweets detailing about his visit to the Valley.
Tahir took to twitter and wrote, “We Afghans claim that we are Mehman-Navaz (Hospitable), but the Kashmiris are definitely so too. Interacted with a bunch of young people here. This girl is a gold-medalist in basketball with very high hopes. Wishing this beautiful valley & it’s people lots of good wishes!.”
“In our interaction with the Kashmiri media outlets, the media people seriously urged the govt to restore the internet broadband as it is causing them so much problems to report and broadcast,” he wrote.
In an another tweet, Tahir wrote; “A Kashmiri woman paddling her boat through the Dal Lake, Srinagar. Like Venice, lots of shopping points selling local handicrafts & boat resorts in the middle of the lake. Undoubtedly the valley has a lot of potential for boosting tourism.”
Soon after his (Tahir’s) tweets, Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti (who is using her mothers account) took to twitter and wrote; “Your excellency please do enlighten us Kashmiris about which VPN you are using to tweet? We will also download and tweet freely.”
Several other Kashmiri based Twitter users also questioned Tahir.
One of the Twitter user wrote; “Your Excellency Mr. Ambassador please tell me which VPN are you using in Kashmir. I will also download that. It seems your VPN is fast than mine..”
Another user wrote; ” Hon’ble visitor sir, which vpn do u use to access twitter during your sight seeing at Kashmir.”
Meanwhile, Security has been beefed up in the Srinagar and the areas around the hotel where the delegation of foreign envoys are staying.
According to reports, the envoys will have a night halt in Srinagar before moving to Jammu next day where they are expected to meet Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu and civil society groups.
The visit comes a month after a delegation of ambassadors visited the Union Territory last month.
The delegation includes diplomats from Canada, Austria, Uzbekistan, Uganda, Slovak Republic, Netherlands, Namibia, Kyrgyz Republic, Bulgaria, Germany, Tajikistan, France, Mexico, Denmark, Italy, Afghanistan, New Zealand, Poland, and Rwanda.w
Discussion about this post