By targeting foreign and domestic tourists in Kashmir on Monday, stone-pelters have spiked the bubble of revival of tourism created by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti by organising the convention of Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) in Srinagar.
Panic was created among the foreign and domestic tourists whose vehicles were attacked by stone-pelters just a few hours after the TAAI conference concluded.
Kashmir has lost two previous summer and winter tourist seasons because of violence in the valley. However, hopes of a good number of tourist footfall in the valley rekindled with the TAAI resolving to promote 2018 as “Visit Kashmir Year” have crumbled as many tourists cutting their trip short have flown back home following these attacks. Kashmir based hotels were getting room cancellation calls from travel agents in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and other places.
The stone pelting incidents occurred a day after 13 terrorists and 4 local stone-pelters were killed in encounters with security forces on 1 April. Irked over the stone pelting incidents, former CM Omar Abdullah tweeted; “These stone pelters are no friends or well-wishers of Kashmiris. They deserve to face the full weight of the law. This isn’t how we treat our guests #Kashmir”.
Mehbooba had recently withdrawn police cases against nearly 10,000 stone-pelters who were accused of targeting men of the Army, para-military forces and state police.
The TAAI convention was held in Srinagar after 30-years on persuasion of Mehbooba who had recently visited Delhi, Mumbai and other states in a bid to revive tourism in Jammu and Kashmir. She also met top film producers and invited them to shoot films in the valley. The deadliest encounters in Shopian started while delegates of the TAAI were proceeding to the Srinagar airport to catch flights back home on Sunday.
While Mehbooba in her address to the TAAI delegates claimed that Kashmir was the safest place for women, stone-pelters reportedly injured two women tourists from Abu Dhabi near the airport, two buses carrying Indonesian tourists were targeted by stone-pelters near the Dal Lake in Srinagar, two women from UP were injured in another attack on a tourist bus by stone-pelters at Awantipura on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in South Kashmir Pakistan, which is pumping in terrorists, was trying to exploit the situation in the valley by declaring “Kashmir Solidarity Day” on 6 April. Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has accused India of launching a brutal crackdown in Kashmir where 13 terrorists were killed.
The top separatists, including Syed Alishah Geelani, were adding fuel to the fire by delivering provocative statements.