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India Orders Students, Tourists Out of Kashmir for Security

Associated Press

   SRINAGAR, INDIA-- Thousands of Indian students and visitors were
   fleeing Indian-controlled Kashmir over the weekend after the government
   ordered tourists and Hindu pilgrims visiting a Himalayan cave shrine
   "to curtail their stay" in the disputed territory, citing security
   concerns.
   Meanwhile, tensions flared along the highly militarized Line of Control
   that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan as Pakistan accused
   India of using cluster munitions to target the civilian population,
   killing two people.
   Hundreds of Indian and foreign visitors, including some Hindu pilgrims,
   on Saturday congregated outside the main terminal at the airport in
   Srinagar, the region's main city, seeking seats on flights out. Most
   were unlikely to get tickets, however, as authorities had yet to
   arrange additional flights, officials said.
   On Friday, Indian aviation authorities told airlines to be ready to
   operate additional flights from Srinagar to ferry pilgrims and tourists
   out, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
   Tourists and pilgrims also took buses out of the region after
   authorities went to hotels in the tourist resorts ofPahalgamand Gulmarg
   on Friday evening to tell them to leave. Authorities also bused out
   hundreds of Indian students from some colleges in Srinagar.
   The order cited the "prevailing security situation" and the "latest
   intelligence inputs of terror threats with specific targeting" of the
   annual Hindu pilgrimage as reasons for the advisory.

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