“See, how quiet the waters are,” the boatman says, sitting in his shikara – an ornately-decorated and canopied traditional Kashmir boat named “Love is Blind”
Kainaat Mushtaq
SRINAGAR: Despite sporadic violence this year, this was the best tourist month that the shikara wallas (boatmen) of Kashmir’s Dal Lake could remember.
Until Prime Minister Manmohan Singh came to town on Tuesday.
Security forces and a general strike effectively closed down Srinagar, the summer capital and main city, forcing tourists to stay inside.
“We had never had such a good month,” says Bashir Ahmed, 28, a boatman who takes tourists for a ride on Dal Lake – the city’s main tourist centre and home to its world famous timber houseboats.
“The tourist season began late this year, in April. We were making good money until this (visit). Everything is shut now and will remain closed for another two days. See, how quiet the waters are,” he says, sitting in his shikara – an ornately-decorated and canopied traditional Kashmir boat named “Love is Blind”.
Ahmed earns about 300-400 rupees a day, but since Monday, when Dal lake was sealed for tourists, he has had nothing.
The rambling boulevard along the banks of Dal, which is normally crammed with tourists until late in the evening, was teeming with security forces: the road also leads to the swank convention centre where Singh was closeted for his meeting with state government.
‘Shutters Down’
Inside the city, most people stayed inside due to an unofficial curfew. Those who did venture out were either pushed back or frisked by heavily armed security personnel.
The city downed its shutters in response to a strike called by political separatists to protest Singh’s visit.
Armoured vehicles, with gun barrels jutting out of small window grills, moved slowly up and down the empty streets.
“This is not fair at all,” Ahmed says. “Why to visit Kashmir in the middle of the tourist season and that too in the Dal Lake area when you know what happens?”
Tourism is one of the mainstay of Kashmir’s shattered economy.
A three kilometre (2 miles) area around the convention centre has been sealed and there are at least seven heavily-armed checkposts on the road to the venue.
“How can you compromise on security?” asked a senior police official.
“Such things happen. I hope the shikara-wallas (boatmen) will bear with us. And as far as I know, there have been no cancellations by tourists.”
But Satish Mehta, 41, a businessman from western commercial hub of Mumbai who came to Kashmir a few days with a group of 20 relatives and friends, says he is going home.
After visiting other areas, he arrived in Srinagar on Tuesday only to find he can do nothing but sit in his hotel.
“Most markets are closed. The Dal is closed. Where do we go? We’re going back,” he says.
But going back, too, is not easy.
Tourists had to pass through security checkpoints at several places along the Lalchowk-airport route.
This is the same road that militants used yesterday after fleeing an attack site where they killed eight army soldiers, in a daring blow to the army just hours before the prime minister was to land here.
