The United States Department of State has issued a level two warning for its citizens travelling to India and a level three alert for those going to Pakistan.
While the department has asked its citizens to exercise increased caution while travelling to India, it has urged Americans to reconsider travel to Pakistan.
The country advised its citizens not to travel within 10 kilometres of the India-Pakistan border “due to the potential for armed conflict”.
The advisory on India said that Indian authorities report rape as one of the fastest growing crimes in the country. “Violent crime, such as sexual assault, has occurred at tourist sites and in other locations,” it noted.
The US Department of State cautioned its citizens that terrorists “may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, and government facilities”.
The United States government has advised its citizens not to go to Jammu and Kashmir, citing terrorism and civil unrest.
The advisory said that employees of the United States government are prohibited from visiting the northeastern states without a clearance from the country’s Consulate General in Kolkata.
“Incidents of violence by ethnic insurgent groups, including bombings of buses, trains, rail lines, and markets, occur occasionally in the northeast,” the advisory noted.
The advisory also took note of the presence of Maoists “in a large swath of India from eastern Maharashtra and northern Telangana through western West Bengal”.
The United States advisory on Pakistan asks its citizens not to travel to the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, citing the threats of terrorism, kidnapping and the potential for armed conflict.
“Terrorist groups continue plotting attacks in Pakistan,” the advisory noted. “A local history of terrorism and ongoing ideological aspirations of violence by extremist elements have led to indiscriminate attacks on civilian as well as local military and police targets.”
The US Department of State, however, said that the situation in Pakistan has improved since 2014, when security forces “undertook concerted counter terrorist and counter militant operations”.
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