Lull On The Dal

Heaven on earth, goes the J&K tourism department’s tagline. But after the Pulwama attack, few are visiting the state, prompting fears of job losses.

- Naseer Ganai

IT is a pleasant April morning in Kashmir. The temperature swings between a comfortable 14 and 20 degrees Celsius and the towering Zabarwan range shimmers in the glassy waters of the Dal Lake. But Mohammad ShafiSheikh, 52, who plies shikaras on the Dal, is distressed. “In the past few years, there were lots of tourists, but this year has been bad. No one is coming and we don’t earn anything. I don’t know what has happened this year,” he laments.

His colleague, Ghulam Mohideen, interjects, “Pulwama happened this year. After that, travellers stopped visiting. Only tourists from some countries are coming,” he says pointing to two ladies from Southeast Asia. In recent years, tourists from the region have been visiting Kashmir in significant numbers.

Nearby Ajaz Ahmad Kotroo, 43, relaxes on the deck of Pigeon, one of the oldest houseboats on the lake. Although he has not hosted any tourists in the past few weeks, he is positive. In three decades, Kashmir has gone through many such slumps and emerged out of those, he claims.

“Tourism comprises seven per cent of our economy. Even without it, we will survive,” he declares with a smile. “Tourism will flourish in the Valley when you make it conflict-neutral. For long, the government has been linking tourism with peace and consequently, after every untoward event, it is the first industry to get derailed and last to return on track.”

Kotroo’s houseboat is behind Hotel Leeward. In 1996, when only 375 tourists visited Kashmir, the CRPF occupied the building and has stayed put since. Nobel Laureate V.S. Naipaul stayed in the second storey of the property in 1962. In his travelogue