A hair-raising ordeal: Six foreign tourists mistaken for 'braid choppers' rescued in Kashmir

With the help of local residents, police rescued the tourists. They were taken to a local hotel, and seen off on Sunday morning.

Shuja-ul-Haq  | Edited by Ganesh Kumar Radha Udayakumar
Srinagar, October 8, 2017 | UPDATED 21:56 IST
The touristsThe tourists

Highlights

  • 1
    Locals who spotted the tourists raised a hue and cry
  • 2
    A police team rushed to the spot in response to locals' call for help
  • 3
    With the help of local residents, they rescued the tourists

Tourists from Australia, South Korea, Ireland and England who were mistaken for "braid choppers," were rescued by locals and Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel on Sunday in Kanikachi Lati Mohalla.  

The six tourists - four men and two women - were traveling from Leh to Srinagar in a Tavera. Having lost their way, they were using Google Maps to navigate. They had a driver with them:  Abid Hussain, the son of Mohd Shafi, a resident of Doda.

Locals who spotted them at Kanikachi Lati Mohalla raised a hue and cry, and more people gathered at the spot.

The crowd became an unruly mob, and some locals began rescuing the tourists.

A police team rushed to the spot in response to locals' call for help.

With the help of local residents, police rescued the tourists. They were taken to a local hotel, and seen off on Sunday morning.

Five new instances of "braid-chopping" were reported in Kashmir on Thursday. Officials said on Friday that mobile Internet services had been temporarily suspended to check rumour-mongering, after several cases of vigilante violence related to braid-chopping were reported.

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