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| Give up terrorism to ensure tourism | | | NIRBHAY JAMMUAL
When the sun rays fall on the scenic Dal lake in Srinagar in the morning houseboat owners sit on the decks of their boats in wait for tourists.They seem to be hopeful.By the time the sun sets they are crestfallen.The reason:not a siingle tourist arrived that and the consequent days and weeks.This remained the scene from the first week of July.When the turmoil over the land row hit Kashmir tourists cancelled their reservations.Those who were enjoying the panoramic view of the valley cut short their stayThe only compensation was that over four lakh pilgrims had visited the valley during the two-month long annual Amarnah pilgrimage.
The houseboat owners,hoteliers,transporters and traders had pinned their hope on September-October season.They had hopes that after the agitation in Kashmir was over tourists would throng the valley.Again their hopes dashed to the ground.Reports from Government agencies and some hoteliers confirmed that during the last three weeks it has been tourist flow to Kashmir in a trickle.Yes,between 10 to 20 foreigners land in Srinagar everyday.This is unlikely to boost the sagging morale of those connected with tourism. What went wrong ? Where it went wrong ?The noise of the agitation over the diversion of 800 kanals of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board had not fully died when the separatists embarked on another phase of agitation.The demands were many,which included reopening of Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road for trade,resolution of the Kashmir issue and other allied matters.One demand regarding cross-LOC trade has been conceded.The separatists are not fully satisfied.They want other demands to be conceded.Hence the call for Idgah or Lal Chowk Chalo.These very calls besides the sporadic incidents of militancy related violence have prevented tourists from visiting the valley.Neither those who incite trouble nor those who support the separatists understand that more tourists mean more money for the people in Kashmir.
Right from the school text books to economic surveys one has been told that tourism is the backbone of Kashmir's economy.Surpriingly those teachers who have,over the years,been telling their students that tourism is the backbone of Kashmir's economy seem to be in the forefront of those trying to break this backbone.They have done it since 1989.And whenever the tourist flow peaked in the valley militants carried out one attack after the other forcing the excursionists to cut short their stay and others cancelling their intended holidaying in the valley.Nobody among the separatists seem to bother about the future of those connected with tourism.And those connected with tourism have not stopped hoping and waiting for a bumper tourist season.If the current situation is any guide the autumn tourist season may bring dejection for the people.They will not leave their hopes because they know if the autumn season has failed winter season is not far of.They may wait for toursists visiting the snow slopes in Gulmarg for enjoying skating and skiing.The winter tourism will bring smile on the faces of traders,transporters,hotliers and houseboat owners if the separatists by then had called off their movement.
Whenever tourist traffic to Kashmir is hit it affects traders and transporters besides hoteliers in Jammu.Tourist traffic is interlinked with Jammu because majority of excursionists travel by road and by trains.Before reaching Srinagar these tourists have to touch the city of temples.Of late the transporters have introduced a package under which pilgrims to Vaishnov Devi are lured to have a brief trip to Kashmir.Invariably violence in Kashmir casts a shadow even on pilgrim traffic to Jammu.If the separatists have engineered ethnic cleansing of Kashmir and were trying to foment regional divide they should ensure that the tourist traffic to the valley remained unhindered and uninterrupted. Nepoleon believed that hunger is the source of anarchy and if people in Kashmir are forced to starve they may rise in revolt they would not hesitate targeting these very separatists.Separatists should remember that they cannot survive if they do not secure peoples' support.Thus the need is for giving up terrorism to ensure better tourism. |
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