The monsoon session of the Lok Sabha began with demands for accountability from the intelligence agencies, security forces, the minister of external affairs and the home minister. Opposition demanded answers for unfair treatment meted out to people of Jammu and Kashmir, not taking the war to a conclusion, letting the US president decide and not giving a free hand to armed forces. The opposition did not blame the Pakistani Islamic Jihad. From demanding accountability to demanding statehood for J&K, it was a rather swift charge by the opposition.
Last week, a former diplomat who had served in the Middle East wrote an opinion piece on Gaza, seeking support for Gazans and demanding an end to ‘occupation’. The same media which pushed op-eds on Gaza is regurgitating edited pieces for the ‘cause’ in Jammu and Kashmir. A cluster of articles about the compensation for damages after Operation Sindoor leads to confusion about the identity of the real victims.
Even with such rigorous reporting for Gaza or Jammu and Kashmir, no media are seeking inputs from the Middle East. Completely ignoring the fact that Gazans are inconsequential for the Arab world except to push Jews into extinction, just as the Kashmiris are inconsequential to Pakistan, except to continue dismantling peace for India. The Kashmiri ummah favours Pakistan because the war narrative is cleverly manoeuvred by Rawalpindi.
As part of WaSH projects, I surveyed water and waste management projects across Bharat—especially after the Jal Shakti Ministry came into existence. Jammu and Kashmir began segregating solid and liquid waste, cleaning lakes, and treating sewage only after Article 370 was amended. Now they have the inauguration of infrastructure and smart engineering marvels like the 9 mountain pass tunnels, the world’s highest rail-bridge crossing.
Jammu and Kashmir draws disproportionate attention
Delhi invests heavily in developing the border states, yet Jammu and Kashmir draws disproportionate attention, perhaps unnecessary and unworthy patronage from both sides of the polity, the civil society and the media. It is the tragedy of excesses that pushed Jammu and Kashmir into imbalance and arrogance.
On Kargil’s 26th Vijay Diwas, as all honoured the victory and sacrifice of our forces, Jammu and Kashmir was busy with complaints about delays, insufficient compensation for damages caused by Pakistani shelling. Reportage has no mention about what led to Operation Sindoor, nothing about the massacre of innocent tourists who were segregated and executed in ISIS-style, and no mention about local support to Pakistani terrorists.
Every address by the elected CM across multiple media is about the demand for statehood, in the hope of swaying the entire set of administrative functionaries to access funds allocated for development, education, employment, and environmental preservation. After trying statehood, the local leadership may want to reinstate Article 370 or keep fires stoked to be relevant in politics.
Does J&K qualify for all the mollycoddling?
Let us consider J&K’s tourism industry. Tourism accounts for 6% of Jammu &Kashmir’s GDP-about 8% if one adds restaurants. Dal Lake supports 6000 people. Some reports say that about 1/3rd of the population of 12 million depends on tourism. After the amendment of Article 370, J&K saw the fullest potential realised. April 4th, 2022, is noted as the busiest day in history for Srinagar; 15014 tourists, 90 flights transited in and out.
At that time, 60000 hotel rooms had full occupancy of one lakh tourists who kept full occupancy through the first week of June 2022. In April 2022, the Kashmir Valley had 2.8 Lakh tourists, the highest in 3 decades. The first week of May 2022 alone saw the arrival of 33000. Nikkie Asia reported that in Kashmir, daily earnings per person had risen from ₹500 to ₹3K-4K. Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries estimated that 2 and a half years of the pandemic had drained 500 bn INR ($6.5 billion).
There are reports claiming J&K recovered from the (40000 Crore loss) lockdown; the rest of Bharat also felt the blow; however, no media reported about the economic impact of the pandemic for the top tourist destinations in the rest of Bharat in any other states.
J&K is not listed in the top 10 destinations, yet it is always trending. Here is the list in 2020:
- Tamil Nadu
- Maharashtra
- UP
- Delhi
- Rajasthan
- West Bengal
- Punjab
- Kerala
- Bihar
- Goa
Ministry of Tourism report 2020 says, domestic arrivals in Tamil Nadu were 494.8 million, and it has continued to be the top destination in Bharat. Foreign arrivals were recorded at 6.86 million, the highest! The media or influencers, even the government platforms, never talk about it. There is unfair bias favouring J&K. Tourism in J&K and ‘rebuilding’ J&K are separate yet interlinked; however, unlike other states, J&K is saddled with the ‘cost of suffering’.
In 2022, TripAdvisor issued an advisory that J&K had new laws about what tourists must wear while visiting Kashmir: “…should wear clothes that keep shoulders and legs covered, not wear any tight clothing…short pants are a strict no-no. Salwar Kameez is the best dress”. No such advisory is issued for tourists in other states. After the Pahalgam Terror Attack, women decided not to apply bindi/ sindoor to avoid being identified as Hindu.
Does Jammu and Kashmir exhibit accountability to qualify as a preferred destination for vacation?
Soon after the stampede accident at Mahakumbh, all, including the CM of J&K, were criticising UP’s CM. He organised 1.46 crore visitors congregating daily. None championed the cause of UP to bring more people, like the entire jamboree of media celebrities and netas joined to certify that Kashmir is safe again.
This parliament session, an independent candidate from Kashmir who was jailed in Tihar for terror activities made a debutant speech demanding the release of all involved in attacks on security forces. ‘What have we done? What is our fault?” He made an emotive appeal—this elected MP used parliament to reject outcomes of rigorous investigations related to a series of attacks, whether it was Pahalgam, Reasi Attack, the Rajouri Soldier beheadings, Phulwama, Uri—the list is endless!
Pahalgam’s Baisaran meadow was closed for tourism; however, the CM did not know or didn’t care to inform Delhi about the reopening of Baisaran. Operation Sindoor avenged the Pahalgam Terror Attack—unfortunately, the individual attacks on Rakesh Pandita (politician), Rahul Bhatt (banker), Makhan Lal Bindroo (pharmacist), Rajni Bala (teacher), Pritam Singh (labourer), and Arbind Kumar Sah (golgappa wala) targeted by undercover jihadis in Kashmir were never avenged.
After Rahul Bhatt’s murder, a Kashmiri leader was quoted in The Tribune, “Tourism is NOT normalcy, it’s a BAROMETER OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY. Normalcy is the absence of fear.” With the Pahalgam Terror Attack, he is vindicated, and now he is elected as the Chief Minister. Shouldn’t the same accountability apply to J&K’s CM?
About the author: Maya Rane specializes in strategic communications, with a focus on documenting and conveying Sustainability-ESG initiatives. She’s a key player in the development sector and dedicated to building human-centric brand identities.
Note: The opinions in the article are those of the author alone and do not reflect the Editorial Line of ForPol.
