Boycott by some nations in G-20 event won’t impact foreign policy: Ashok Koul

Srinagar, May 25: Lauding Jammu and Kashmir administration for holding the G-20 summit in Srinagar, BJP General Secretary (Organization), Ashok Koul Thursday said that he is hopeful that the travel restrictions for J&K imposed by some nations will be lifted now.
“I think the restrictions which were in place due to the situations from the last thirty years will end as we showed to the globe through this summit that Kashmir is a safe tourism destination and those who had imposed some restrictions would lift them,” he said while addressing a press conference.
Responding to a question on the boycott of some nations in the just concluded G-20 meeting in Srinagar, Koul said that it is their position, however, “we would have liked their participation but their non-participation won’t make any impact on the foreign policy.”
“We were of the understanding that they would participate, but nevertheless there are some summits in coming times and we hope that all these nations would participate”, he said.
He said that the political unrest and current situation of Pakistan won’t have any impact on India, saying that other neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and Nepal also were struggling with their internal issues but did not impact India.
“I don’t think the internal problems of Pakistan like political unrest or inflation would have any impact on Jammu and Kashmir or India,” he said.
He said that the administration in Jammu and Kashmir has enhanced the wages of skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled employees and that they also have a demand to bring the wages to par with wages at the central level.
“We have demanded that these wages are low and we want that the wages should come at par with the wages which are at the central level.” he said.