Tourists, pilgrims flee Kashmir after security alert

Thousands of Indians have started leaving Kashmir after the local government issued a security alert related to possible militant attacks in the area, a senior government official said on Saturday.
Indian security officials on Friday said they had found evidence of attacks planned by militants on a major Hindu pilgrimage in Kashmir.
The security officials said a mine was among caches of ammunition retrieved following intelligence reports of likely attacks on routes to the region's holy Amarnath cave every year.
A local government order effectively called off the pilgrimage, asking the pilgrims and tourists to return home.
On Saturday, a senior local government official in Kashmir said the advisory had caused panic and led to the departure of "thousands" of tourists, pilgrims and labourers.
The official did not give a specific number, but he said most of the 20,000 Hindu pilgrims and Indian tourists and the more than 200,000 labourers were leaving the region.
Around 60 international tourists arrived in Kashmir on Saturday, however, the official said. The Indian advisory had cautioned tourists in general, but did not give any specific advice to foreign nationals.
However, on Saturday Germany and the UK issued advisories to their citizens discouraging them from travelling to Jammu and Kashmir.
"Travelers staying in Kashmir (especially the Kashmir Valley and the Armanath Yatra Pilgrimage Route) are advised to leave Jammu and Kashmir," the German ministry of foreign affairs said.
The UK's foreign office advised against all travel to Jammu and Kashmir with the exceptions of travel by air to Jammu and within the city, and within the region of Ladakh.
The advisory has left the fleeing tourists and pilgrims disappointed. Kashmir touts itself as a "Paradise on Earth", with Dal Lake and its famous houseboats, mountains and glaciers a major attraction.
Prabakar Iyer, 45, had travelled to Srinagar from the southern Indian city of Bengaluru on Thursday with his family for a 10-day holiday, but they returned on Friday night.
"I was staying in a houseboat on Dal Lake when the advisory was issued. I fail to understand why we are being asked to leave. Everything is normal here," he said.
Labourer Manjit Singh, a carpenter from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh who has been working in Kashmir for the last nine years, also left.
"I am not afraid but the government advisory has created panic and my family wants me back ... I will return if the situation improves," he said.

• India