Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 18: Hoping that tourists will cross 50 lakh mark in Kashmir this season, National Conference (NC) senior leader and Rural Development Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar has said that it’s an encouraging sign that in the initial few months the hotel occupancy is near complete and the people associated with the tourism are upbeat
Continuing the weekly Friday meeting at the headquarters under the chairmanship of provincial president Ali Mohammad Dar, the Rural Development Minister said that the initiatives taken by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to encourage tourists can be seen on the ground with the encouraging response of the large number of tourists arriving in Kashmir.
“This season we are hopeful that tourist will cross 50 lakh mark. This is an encouraging development and will go a long way in boosting the economy. The hotels in Srinagar, Gulmarg and Pahalgam are almost full with tourists. Let’s hope and pray that we break all previous records,” Sagar said.
Talking about the resolution of the Kashmir issue, the NC senior leader maintained that Kashmir can be resolved by only political means and the Chief Minister has time and again reiterated it.
“Omar on all the forums has always maintained that resolution of Kashmir issue can be only possible by a political solution. Our party is committed that the resolution of Kashmir issue can only be achieved by the restoration of autonomy which has been even recommended by Justice Sageer Committee,” he said adding that “NC and its autonomy is in the hearts of the people”.
Reiterating the stand on AFSPA, the NC senior leaders said that the Chief Minister is committed to revoke AFSPA. He said that the State Governments in consultation with the security agencies are continuously discussing the revocation of AFSPA from selective areas. We are hoping that people of the State will see a positive outcome over AFSPA in days to come,” he said.
Launching a scathing attack on PDP, Sagar said that PDP is losing its ground in south Kashmir and its leaders are making baseless allegations against NC for ignoring Srinagar city. “Srinagar is and will remain a bastion of NC. The people of Srinagar are aware about the contribution of NC in developing the Srinagar city,” he said.
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