Hanging of Afzal Guru Won't Impact Kashmir Tourism

Ghulam Ahmed Mir, the tourism minister of Jammu and Kashmir is confident that hanging of Afzal Guru will not affect Kashmir tourism. The tourist season in Jammu and Kashmir is expected to start from March onwards.

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Instead, Ghulam Ahmed Mir expects better tourism figures for 2013. He expects that normalcy of last few years and removal of travel advisory to attract more tourists into the valley. Improvement is security situation has improved the tourist footfall in the valley.

Afzal Guru was involved in the December 13, 2001 attacks of Indian Parliament in New Delhi. On that day 5 Pakistani terrorists entered the parliament to kill MPs. However they could never make it inside the building and were killed by the security forces.

Afzal Guru was awarded death penalty by the Supreme Court and recently President Pranab Mukherjee rejected his mercy petition. He was secretly hanged in the Tihar Jail on Saturday.

The Separatists and supporters of the militant movement in Kashmir strongly opposed his killings. There is threat of law and order situation breakdown in Kashmir where this terrorist enjoy a lot of support from militant groups. Afzal Guru himself was from Kashmir.

However some experts believe that blooming tourism may ensure there is no mass protest or violence in the valley. Thousands of people are dependent on the tourism in Kashmir. They are not likely to risk their jobs and livelihood by taking part in such activities.

Ghulam Ahmed Mir shows the same confidence. He pointed out that tourism figures have only increased in last few years. He pointed out that Maharashtra is the biggest tourism market for the state of Jammu and Kashmir. 21 per cent of total tourist arrivals to Kashmir are from Maharashtra.

tags: Kashmir Tourism, Afzal Guru, Maharashtra, Tourist Arrivals