Bilal Bashir Bhat
Srinagar, June 12 (KNB): The Ramadan Ceasefire has opened doors for the tourists in Kashmir with a large number of people thronging valley amid a heat wave in rest of India.
Pertinently, Government of India on 16th May 2017 announced ceasefire during Ramadan saying it is important to isolate the forces that bring a bad name to Islam by resorting to mindless violence and terror.
The ushering of ceasefire has not offered a hope for lasting peace in the Kashmir valley among masses and sane voices but also have become a reason to strengthen the economy of the state via huge rush of tourists. The stakeholders are happy.
President Travel Agents Association Kashmir (TAAK), Ashfaq Siddiq Dug while talking Kashmir News Bureau, said the Ramadan ceasefire obviously send a positive message to the outer world, the reports regarding encounters, killings on daily basis has now stopped which is favoring for tourism and has resulted in rising of tourist rush.
He said the announcement of the ceasefire coincidently came at a time when there is a rise in heat wave in rest of India, adding, the water crises in Shimla also lend help in boosting the tourism in Kashmir this year.
Ashfaq Siddiq hoped that government will extend the ceasefire to give more respite from deadly violence that has engulfed Kashmir.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has said it was satisfying to note that people have experienced a general relief ever since the security operations were suspended in the State. She hoped that the Central Government would take a holistic view considering all aspects while deciding on it in the coming days.
An official talking to Kashmir News Bureau on basis of anonymity said, the government forces are devising a mechanism so that they could catch militants alive in encounters following the end of Ramadan Ceasefire ending on 17 June 2018.
“Catch them alive” is the new strategy in Jammu and Kashmir to be adopted by security forces in Kashmir who killed over 70 militants in the last seven months, shift gear to focus on finding new recruits and motivating them to return to their families, he said. (KNB)
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