At a time when J-K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that the strikes and protests “incited by vested elements” are ruining the tourism, a French family, on a trekking expedition to Gangabal has returned to Srinagar accusing Army of harassment. The tourist family says they will report to the French embassy in New Delhi.

The 62-year-old Guy Chanel, his 49-year-old wife Claire Chanel and daughter Maud Chanel (13) had embarked on a trekking expedition from Aru in Pahalgam to Gangabal on June 29. And as the family along with their guide and cook returned to Srinagar on Thursday, they had the stories of horror to tell.

“When we reached Lidderweath, our guide made us to camp. Just three or four hours had passed, when the soldiers came and told that we don’t have the permission to set-up the tent here,” said Guy Chanel in his broken English. “They forced us to shift our camp site, five to six kilometers away. They allowed us to set the camp only inside the army compound”.

Guy said that the harassment started soon after they shifted to the new camping site. “The soldiers frequently put flash lights inside our tent,” Guy said. “I had my wife and daughter inside. I didn’t like the way hey intruded into our privacy”.

The visibly perturbed French tourist said that when they left the place, next morning and started to move forward, the soldiers standing at a nearby ridge called his cook, Showkat Ahmad Kawa and guide, Gulzar Ahmad Dhobi. “They asked for my passport,” he said. “They were seven or eight soldiers and each passed my passport to other”.

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