Travel alerts should be carefully modulated: India

Terming travel advisories issued by the United States as a "little disproportionate", India on Tuesday said tourists have nothing to fear and such alerts should be "carefully modulated".

"We have conveyed, certainly to the Americans, that the language in these advisories was a little disproportionate and the security situation in India was basically normal and tourists have nothing to fear," Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told reporters.

He said some countries were obliged by their legal system to regularly advise their citizens on travel related issues to any foreign countries.

"We will continue to convey to them that whatever they wish to do under their own legal obligations should be proportionate and carefully modulated," he said.

Mathai noted that some countries had based their advisories on some Indian media reports about heightened security in view of the festive season and accordingly brought it to the notice of their citizens.

He said there were also some references to advisories issued by Indian authorities "which were not in the same nature". "It is a combination of different sources of information based on which they have made their assessments," he said.

Mathai pointed out that in Jammu and Kashmir this year attracted a record number of tourists and such information would be shared with foreign countries.

"We would be conveying these kinds of inputs to our interlocutors," he said. The US embassy last week issued an alert that warned "of the continued possibility of terrorist attacks throughout India".

It urged "citizens to pay particular attention to their personal security during the Indian holiday season".

Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have also advised citizens to be cautious during the festival season.