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 .