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Straits Times
06-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Kashmir prepares for tourism ‘long lull' as war cries ring loud
The livelihood of residents in the divided Himalayan region has become one of the first victims of the latest India-Pakistan conflict. PHOTO: REUTERS SRINAGAR/PIR CHINASI – Hotels and houseboats in Indian Kashmir are offering discounts of up to 70 per cent after travellers fled following a deadly attack. On the Pakistani side, a tourist hot spot just on the border was sealed off as war cries between the foes grow louder. Residents in the divided Himalayan region known for its snow-covered peaks, fast-running streams and majestic Mughal-era gardens rely heavily on tourism, but their livelihood has become one of the first victims of the latest hostilities between Pakistan and India. The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought two wars over the disputed region, which they both claim in full while ruling in part, and skirmishes between troops stationed along the de facto border have made Kashmir the front line of their discord. But a sharp decline in militancy and a ceasefire that largely held for four years sparked a tourism boom, sending more than three million travellers to the Indian side of Kashmir in 2024 while nearly 1.5 million vacationed on the Pakistan side. The influx had been touted as a major success story for the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose revocation of Kashmir's autonomous status in 2019 led to massive unrest. Hotels, houseboats and taxis were nearly fully booked at the start of the peak summer season in 2025 too, before the attack in April on tourists killed 26 men in a meadow. India has blamed Pakistan for the attack and announced a series of diplomatic and economic steps against the neighbour. Pakistan has denied any role, unveiled tit-for-tat measures and warned of an imminent military strike by India. Mr Yaseen Tuman, who runs a more than 100-year-old travel agency and operates multiple houseboats in Srinagar, the main city of Indian Kashmir, said that nearly all his customers had cancelled bookings and his houseboats were empty. 'Our houseboats were packed and now we have no guests,' Mr Tuman told Reuters, sitting on a wooden sofa in one of the houseboats on Nigeen Lake. Indian travel booking websites show houseboats and hotels offering heavy discounts, but Mr Tuman said he will not cut rates because he did not expect tourists to come in big numbers anyway. 'We will have to prepare for a long lull.' Hotels and houseboats in Indian Kashmir are offering discounts of up to 70 per cent after travellers fled following a deadly attack. PHOTO: REUTERS 'Going to hurt badly' On the other side in Pir Chinasi, located at an altitude of 2895.6m, roadside restaurants, hotels and guesthouses were sparsely occupied after the authorities advised caution, fearing an Indian strike, though it is not so close to the de facto border. Neelum Valley, which lies on the border and is one of the most favoured tourist destinations in Pakistan, is out of bounds for now, the authorities say. All the nearly 370 hotels and guesthouses in the valley are now empty, said Mr Abrar Ahmad Butt, spokesperson for the hotels and guesthouses association of the region. Tourists typically throng the place starting in May as temperatures soar in rest of the country. 'It's going to hurt badly this season,' he said. Tourism employs around 16,000 people in the region. For Mr Syed Yasir Ali, who works at a foreign mission in Islamabad, not being able to go to Neelum Valley may have been a dampener but he felt no fear in visiting Pir Chinasi with his wife and three sons. 'This side is safe', he said, suggesting that others were wrongly fearful of visiting. 'I am on the ground, it is safe.' But the fear is having real economic consequences for a tuck shop run by Mr Musaddiq Hussain. 'Business is completely down,' he said. 'We should have peace in the country, so that we could prosper. We want both countries to have peace.' In Srinagar, taxi driver Tanveer rues the lost opportunity. 'The streets were packed, there was no place to drive in the city before the horrific killing,' he said, giving only one name. 'I wait for a passenger all day. Before the attack, I had no time to take on more work.' REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Kashmir leader calls for caution in Indian response after deadly attack
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah consoles the father of a man who was killed in a suspected militant attack in Hapatnard, Kashmir. PHOTO: REUTERS SRINAGAR - India should not do anything to alienate Kashmiris in its hunt for militants who killed 26 people last week, especially as residents of the Muslim-majority Himalayan region have staged protests against that attack, its chief minister said on April 28. The April 22 killings of tourists by gunmen from an armed Islamist group have prompted a crackdown on suspected militants in the troubled region, including the demolition of nine homes belonging to the families of suspected Islamist militants. Hindu-majority India has been fighting an armed insurgency in Kashmir for decades, though in recent years the situation had improved. The picturesque region is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan but ruled only in part by the neighbours. 'We should not do anything to alienate the people after their spontaneous reaction (against the attack),' Mr Omar Abdullah, chief minister of the Indian federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir, said in the local assembly house. 'Guns can only control militancy, not finish it. It will only end when the people are with us. It seems people are now reaching that stage.' He did not elaborate, but several protests, including candlelight demonstrations and a symbolic day long shutdown, were held in the past week in Kashmir against the attack. Some Kashmir residents have also spoken out against the move by the authorities to destroy several homes of militants' families, like that of Ms Rifat Sheikh. On April 28, she stood next to her razed kitchen, assessing the damage she said was caused by explosives used by the police to demolish the house. Police say her brother Asif is with the Lashkar-e-Taiba armed group, which New Delhi has declared a terrorist organisation and is suspected to have had a role in the April 22 attack. Ms Sheikh said her family had not seen or spoken with Asif after he left home one morning in 2022 on the pretext of going to the local market. 'Why are they punishing us by destroying our house this way for what they say he has done?' she asked. 'We don't know where he is or what he is doing. This is provocation, but I pray that people remain calm.' Two police officials, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, say they were only acting against homes that retained connections with militants. They denied using explosives or detaining any members of militants' families. A relative visits the house of Asif Sheikh that was demolished by the Indian authorities at Monghama village in Tral, south Kashmir. PHOTO: REUTERS Mr Nazir Ahmad Wani's house in Kashmir's Khasipora village was one of the nine homes destroyed so far. Police say his son, Amir Nazir, is a member of the Jaish-e-Mohammed group that India has designated as a terrorist outfit. Broken pieces of glass lay in the backyard of Mr Wani's home where he grew maize crops. The roof of the house was pulled down due to the impact of the explosives, his relatives said, adding that Amir left the home in April last year and didn't return. 'I was kept at the police station all night. They didn't tell me anything at the time. I only learned of the damage the next morning when I came to the house,' said Mr Wani. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
