VHP activists held demanding boycott of tourism to Kashmir valley

Ahmedabad, May 31 (UNI) Several Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists were held today for trying to 'lock' the Jammu&Kashmir tourism office here, in the wake of death of four tourists from Gujarat in a grenade attack near Srinagar on March 25.

The day's agitation was a part of VHP's international general secretary Pravin Togadia's call for 'total boycott' of tourism to the Kashmir valley and all Kashmiri goods like carpets, apples, shawls, saffron and handicrafts.

Reacting to the killing of innocent tourists from Gujarat in the granade blast, Mr Togadia had alleged that grants to the insurgency-hit State were being used by Jehadis. Peaceful boycott is the most effective answer to insurgency because Jehadis cannot live in Kashmir without local support, he said.

The activists, carrying placards and shouting slogans like 'From Doda to Gujarat' and 'Boycott Tourism to Kashmir Valley' tried to break the police cordon, but were promptly rounded up by the posse of policemen present there.

Four members of a Zariwala family from Surat, including three children, were killed and six others were wounded in the grenade attack on a bus near Hazrat Bal, a few kms away from the venue of Prime Minister's roundtable talks for peace process.

A few days ago, one person was killed and six others injured in a similar grenade attack on a busload of tourists from Madhya Pradesh going from from Sonmarg to Gulmarg.

However, J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi had described it as an ''isolated incident,'' notwithstanding announcing ex-gratia payment to the kin of the deceased.

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