What can make tourism a conflict neutral activity?
On May 27th, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, pitched for keeping tourism a conflict neutral activity. He was making a vow to bring tourists back to the Valley , without putting a name to them except as guests of Kashmir. He expected others also to do so.
This messaging came from Pahalgam for the tourists who fled the Valley after the April 22nd terror attack in Baisaran meadow, Pahalgam, a world-famous tourist resort. Terrorists shot dead 26 tourists, and a local pony ride operator.
Keeping tourism in Kashmir insulated from conflict is a much bigger challenge than it is being anticipated or hoped for. This idea cannot be implemented in the Valley on its own. It has its internal and external dimensions. As a former minister of external affairs, and chief minister of the erstwhile state, now broken into two union territories, Omar is aware that this problem cannot be resolved within Kashmir.
Pahalgam brutalities were meant to cut the flow of tourists, inflict a big blow to the economy, to cause communal discord, as the perpetrators distinguished the victims on the basis of their faith. The whole of this murderous campaign, as the pattern has shown, was sponsored and executed at the behest of inimical elements sitting across the border.
This gives international dimension to it, because everything is not happening on this side of the border alone. Through Operation Sindoor, a military operation to destroy terror infrastructure and its spirit across the border, Pahalgam mass murder has been avenged. But it will gain its real meaning when the tourists will return to Kashmir
Omar made this appeal from Pahalgam, where he presided over an unprecedented cabinet meeting, to send a message of great reassurance to the tourists across the country to come back and enjoy Kashmir’s unmatched beauty and extraordinary hospitality. He was fighting against an unspoken advisory that came into being after April 22nd massacre. It also was defiance to the tourism disrupters: “We are here,” and also to those, who connected the tourism boom to perfect peace, thus triggering a conflict of narratives. On this side, the efforts were made to bring tourists, to boost the economy, and integrate Kashmir’s image as a leading tourist destination in the overall development era of “Viksit Bharat,” the disrupters used guns in their attempt to do that.
After the Pahalgam massacre, India punished the backers of the terrorist organizations. And Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared in no uncertain terms that, “Operation Sindoor is on pause only.” This should serve a necessary lesson to those who see Kashmir as a playground for their two-nation theory.
It is an undeniable reality that terrorism and tourism cannot go together. And, the adversary always sought to cause disruption through acts of terror.
Overall environment matters - Kashmir has experienced good days of tourism boom during the political governments from Farooq Abdullah’s times from 1996 to 2002, to that of Mehbooba Mufti. Unfortunately, whenever tourism steadied, acts of terror and natural disasters intervened. Omar can tell you both - devastating floods of 2014, street protests of 2010, and from 2013 to September 2014 – when tourists overflow was put to halt by the floods .
Post-April 22nd Pahalgam, the tourists, for sure, must be looking for an absolute sense of security. They became victims of narrative of being all is well in Kashmir. Omar, as Chief Minister, emboldened by people’s wish for return of tourists, made a visit to Pahalgam, and a day later to Gulmarg to start his mission “visit Kashmir”. But, the fact remains, which he knows full well, that he cannot ensure sense of security among them. Kashmiris were not involved in the attack. He, and all other leaders without any exception said so, but they are not being trusted. There is a narrative to blame the locals for having played their part in the horrendous tragedy. This begets another question, did the tourism peak without locals embracing tourists. That they were shield to them was illustrated by Adil Shah, who laid down his life fighting terrorists in Baisaran.
The original culprit is Pakistan that took advantage of the situation in late 1980s, and misguided Kashmiri youth to guns. It snapped the bond between the tourists and the Valley. Its use of guns and grenades, made the minorities to flee the land of their ancestors. Tourists , in other parts of the country, were scared. Why visit the Valley when the native minorities have been driven out of their homes.
That time, the whole system of governance had collapsed, and it had become a hostage to the hostile powers. It lacked the will to stand up to the tide, and it obliged the waves of the people that rallied behind slogans and the acts of violence.
That country, Pakistan which housed headquarters Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and multiple other such UN designated terror groups, will not heed Omar’s advice. That is, for sure. They know that Omar, and other Kashmiri leaders, who condemned the incident and mobilized public opinion against Pahalgam atrocities were with India. There are many doubters within the country who troll them, without knowing that they were willingly or unwillingly advancing the agenda of the anti-India forces across the border.
There is only one way to insulate tourism from actions and narrative of conflict to maintain silence over their arrivals. Counting and broadcasting tourist arrivals should be a comparative study, year over year - like it was done in pre 1989 era, purely from the economic point of view.
Kashmir was one of the most favoured places for some of the classic Bollywood movie makers. The beauty and hospitality of Kashmir was spoken of. Perhaps, history can be our guiding light.
There has been a strong and argumentative narrative that Kashmir’s economy is centered on agriculture, horticulture, while tourism plays a tiny part in it. This is absolutely correct. But these are tourists who act as brand ambassadors of the Vale. Kashmir needs them.
