Saleem Qadri

JK News Today

Srinagar, December 13

Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front Chairman Mohammad Yasin Malik  Tuesday   offered his home as a  resting place to tourists if they nurture any  element of fear in the Valley ,but maintained that  Kashmir is eagerly waiting for them to come in  hordes .

“Kashmir is a haven  of Insaniyat ( humanity) and “mehman nawazi” ( hospitality)  and this  is true for all kinds of tourists , whether from India or other parts of the world,” Yasin Malik one of the three prominent leaders of the “ resistance leadership” that is  guiding the course  of the ongoing unrest  in Kashmir Valley.

Yasin Malik has a modest house in Srinagar’s Maisuma area  and he is willing to open doors and offer all the hospitality to tourists. “ If they  (tourists)  feel themselves unsafe in guest houses or hotels, they can stay with me  in my house as long as they wish,” Malik said  explaining the  meaning of the  December 6th  surprise  announcement of the “ resistance leadership”  in  unwrapping the welcome sign for tourists, Indians, foreigners alike .

The “Joint Resistance Leadership” statement  had underscored the  tenets of Islam  and Kashmiri traditions of safeguarding tourists  and hospitality in the land of Kashmir , filled with endless and eternal beauty  while urging  tourists to return to the Valley.

Tourists had fled the Valley after the unrest started  in Kashmir in July  following the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahadeen Commander  Burhan Wani  in an encounter with security forces.  The lement of fear  had driven them back to their homes, most of them were domestic tourists.

Lambasting the reported comments  of BJP leader Ram Madhav that the Hurriyat  was inviting terrorists not tourists,” the JKLF chief said that, “ let it be clear to one and all that we are  not inviting terrorists, only tourists. Kashmir is a place where humanity and hospitality is rooted in its age-old traditions  and that is what we are exhibiting.”

“ Tourists can come  and travel  from one end to the other of the Valley  without fear . Kashmir is having a proud record of  having  protected tourists and pilgrims. Show me was any Amarnath pilgrim harmed in 2008, 2010 or 2016.  In 2008,  we had set up langars ( community kitchens ) for  Amarnath pilgrims .