After a tourist from Tamil Nadu died during stone-pelting in Srinagar, Gulmarg road near Narbal highway, the Tourism departments of Kashmir and stakeholders have expressed apprehensions that the incident could negatively impact the arrival of visitors to Kashmir. A 22-year-old tourist, R Thirumani, from Chennai was critically injured in a stone-pelting incident at Narbal on Monday evening. He was shifted to a hospital here for treatment but succumbed to injuries, police said. Meanwhile locals and tourist agents express their view over this incident.
One of the tour and travel agent told Press Trust of Kashmir that the incident is very unfortunate which should not have happened. Another tourist agent said that this is really sad adding, “We need to understand due to incidents like this nobody feel safe to come Kashmir”. Director Tourism Kashmir, Mahmood Shah, while condemning the incident, said the department fears it would negatively impact the arrival of visitors to the valley. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti reiterated that without sustained and meaningful dialogue and outreach, J&K will get pushed deeper into this vortex of gloom. Mehbooba said she had no words to condemn the “tragic incident”. “It’s truly heartbreaking when a family saves for years to realise their dream of visiting Kashmir & while they are here they face their worst nightmare. I have no words strong enough to condemn this tragic incident,” the Chief Minister wrote on Twitter.
She added, “Without a sustained, meaningful dialogue & outreach, not just from the govt but from the entire country, J&K will get pushed deeper into this vortex of gloom. My deepest condolences to the deceased’s family & my prayers go out to the girl who was injured in the same incident.” Meanwhile former chief minister Omar Abdullah also condemned the killing of a tourist hailing from Tamil. Omar also lashed out at the state government saying the PDP-BJP ruling alliance was a failure.
“This young man from Chennai died in my constituency & while I don’t support these goons, their methods or their ideology, I’m deeply, deeply sorry that this happened at all & that too in an area I’ve been proud to represent since 2014,” Omar said. “We’ve killed a tourist by throwing stones at the vehicle he was travelling in. Let’s try and wrap our heads around the fact that we stoned a tourist, a guest, to death while we glorify these stone-pelters & their methods,” Omar said in a series of tweets.