Bolivia Charge d'Affaires 'impressed' with Centre's decisions in J-K

Charge d'Affaires of the Bolivia Embassy in New Delhi Juan Jose Cortez Rojas on Wednesday said the people of Jammu and Kashmir are happy with the decisions the Centre took in the Union territory and he was impressed with the developments.

Charge d'Affaires of the Bolivia Embassy in New Delhi Juan Jose Cortez Rojas on Wednesday said the people of Jammu and Kashmir are happy with the decisions the Centre took in the Union territory and he was impressed with the developments. Speaking to ANI exclusively, Rojas--who is on a visit to the region with envoys of other countries--said that he was impressed. "This is my first visit here and I am already impressed," he said.

With regard to the meeting with members of civil society, he said, "What we are realising is that all that was happening in the last year is that democracy took place here. It is impressive. People here are happy with the political decisions the central government took." A group of 24 foreign heads of missions, representing various geographical regions, arrived in Srinagar today. They 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 the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Foreign diplomats from Chile, Brazil, Cuba, Bolivia, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Bangladesh, Malawi, Eritrea, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Malaysia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and the European Union are on the visit. According to sources, "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 redressal mechanisms among others."

The latest visit of foreign envoys comes in the backdrop of District Development Council polls, which saw huge participation and restoration of 4G mobile internet in the entire region after 18 months, which many see as a return to full normalcy in the Union Territory. This will be the first visit by foreign diplomats to Jammu and Kashmir since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two batches of foreign diplomats had earlier visited J-K in January and February last year after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019.

Their programme 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. (ANI)

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