JAMMU: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said the recent turmoil in the Kashmir Valley connected people of all the three region of the state and they felt each others’ pain.
“One of the positive things to come out of recent disturbed situation in the State was that people of all the regions now feel the pain of each other,” Ms Mufti said while addressing the delegates of India Tavel Mart (ITM) here this evening.
She said many businessmen of Jammu suffered losses due to shut down in Kashmir and many of Kashmiri parents thought it safe to send their wards to Jammu when they couldn’t send them to school there, adding, “something of this sort is being witnessed in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time and complimented the common people for showing such gestures”.
Ms Mufti however, described tourism as an important means of people to people dialogue adding that it gives ample opportunities to people to know each other better and closely. She however, regretted the negative portrayal of the State by certain outside media outlets.
“There is no better mechanism to let the outsiders know of the State, its people and the situation on their own than the tourism sector,” she said and added that is why, every tourist visit to the State is a step towards peace.
Asking the Tourism Department and tour operators to work together for improving the tourist footfall to the State, the Chief Minister said the impression about the State would improve consequentially with more and more tourist arrivals as they would be judging the place for themselves rather than relying on newsroom discussions of some news channels. (AGENCIES)
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