Kashmir’s Gateway to the World
M Ashraf
Former Director General Tourism, J&K
E-mail: ashrafmjk@gmail.com
It was after almost three decades that a direct international flight landed at the upgraded Srinagar Airport last February. The flight, received by the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, was a great occasion for Kashmir. For more than half a century, Kashmiris have felt totally isolated from the outside world. Before independence, Kashmir had many external connections, both, with the different parts of the sub-continent and Central Asia, especially since it was situated on an important branch of the famous Silk Route. After the events of 1947, there was only one entry and exit point to Kashmir, which went through Delhi.
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, after taking over as the Chief Minister of the state in 1975, initiated two important tourism projects. The first was the construction of an International Convention Centre and the other, the upgradation of the Srinagar Airport to an international level. It was towards fulfilling his dream of making Kashmir an important venue for international conferences that the Convention Centre and the adjacent Air India hotel were completed and commissioned. However, the second part of the project, the international airport, continued to remain in the pipeline. It was only in 2005 that the Union Cabinet took the momentous decision of declaring the airport at Srinagar an international airport and sanctioned a project for Rs.80 crore for its upgradation and modernization. Most of the work related to the airport’s upgradation, has since been completed.
The initiation of an international flight has opened up Kashmir directly to the outside world, bringing to fruition a long-cherished dream. However, just as one swallow does not make a summer, one weekly flight to a foreign destination does not make Srinagar’s airport ‘international’. The operations at the airport seem to have been limited to a solitary international flight which operates at a very low cost to the passengers. The flight is being operated by Air India Express, a subsidiary of Air India, set up to cater to those from the lower-middle class, working in the Gulf. The reason being advanced for operating a flight at such low cost is an absence of sufficient load. The lower load however, is primarily because of an absence of any visa-issuing facility in Srinagar. No one seems to have done the basic ground work.
Firstly, the flight does not have to be operated at such a low price to the passengers. If it is meant for foreign tourists, they can easily pay fares, normally applicable on the Delhi-Dubai sector. Secondly, the people expected to use the flight from Dubai and neighbouring regions to visit Kashmir, are bound to be from a high income group; one does not expect those in the lower income group from Dubai and beyond to visit Kashmir by this flight. It has been reported for instance, that a large number of golfers in Dubai have expressed their keenness to visit Kashmir for a weekend of golf. While Dubai has almost a dozen golf courses of international repute, the Indian Golfers Association in Dubai has over 5,000 members. Two flights a week, appropriately placed therefore, would allow people to spend a weekend in Srinagar, golfing, trout fishing or engaging in other adventure and leisure activities. While a number of those in the high income category, living in Dubai have expressed their desire to visit Kashmir, they have been discouraged by the prospect of having to stay an entire week in Kashmir and also by the fact that the flight has no business class section.
Additionally, one fails to understand why Air India alone has to operate along this sector. Vijay Mallaya, the proprietor of Kingfisher Airlines, was also keen to start a Srinagar-Dubai flight as was announced by him in Srinagar last February. Apart from Dubai, Srinagar can also operate flights to Southeast Asia from where tourists have continued to visit Kashmir, even at the peak of militancy. In the mid eighties, Air India had started a Singapore-Srinagar flight with a stopover at Delhi, which had to be discontinued due to militancy in the region. This flight can now be revived. Another lucrative sector worth exploring could be between Kashmir and Tajikistan. Kashmir’s most famous saint Mir Sayed Ali Hamadani, popularly known as Shah-I-Hamadan, is buried in Koolab, Tajikistan, which has an international airport. And it is only natural that almost every Kashmiri would want to visit the saint’s burial place. Similarly, a Srinagar-Jeddah flight will also prove viable since a large number of Kashmiris visit Makkah for Umra.
The Dubai and other international flights from Kashmir can also carry cargo such as handicraft products which are exported in bulk from Srinagar to numerous destinations in the Middle East and beyond. Perishable cargo like fruits, flowers, and trout fish which may eventually start moving from Kashmir to the Gulf region would also constitute a significant load. However, there have to be sincere and honest efforts to implement the project and not allow it to be reduced to a symbolic gesture. Both the central and the state government agencies must seize this unique opportunity for promoting travel and trade. It could be a boon for Kashmir’s tourism sector and also help in ending the psychological isolation of the Kashmiris. An additional incentive to make efforts in this regard is the plethora of employment opportunities that such initiatives would generate for the Kashmiri youth.
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