Neelum Valley:
The hotels are empty and the roads deserted at the start of what is normally the season of tourists in the middle of the imposing peaks and the lush valleys of the AJK valley, while the threat of attack on India is looming.
High season in the cooler climates of the Neelum valley, the AJK tourism center, begins in May while temperatures around the rest of the country are increasing.
“It was a very bad start,”
said Muhammad Awais, a 22-year-old photographer in a popular picnic place.
Tourism is the neelum Valley rescue buoy, attracting more than 300,000 visitors each year from all of Pakistan, according to the administration of the district.
A large part of the local population depends on around 350 guest houses, which employ thousands of families.
“Our livelihoods depend on tourism, and without it, we suffer,” Awais told AFP. “The way things take place is very slow, and that affects our work badly.”
This week, the police and soldiers of the army control points prevented tourists from entering the valley, allowing only local residents by the checkpoint. Tourists have rather been told to return Muzaffarabad.
“It is extremely disappointing that the government has not warned us or advises to visit,” said Saleem Uddin Siddique, who has traveled from the capital Islamabad with his family.
“Our hopes are now destroyed,” said the 69 -year -old retirement accountant.
However, some tourists continued to arrive unattained. “We do not think that the threat of a possible war is serious,” said Mudasar Maqsood, a 39 -year -old factory worker from Kasur, who was blocked with his friends to enter the valley.
“We must not disturb our routine life,” he added.
Raja Iftikhar Khan, the president of the Private Tourism Association, said that the situation could become “extremely disastrous”.
“This disturbance was devastating for all those linked to tourism,” he said, “we do not want a war-no sensible businessman ever does it”.
