ISLAMABAD: After a series of complaints lodged against Kashmir police for misbehaving with tourists, the government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Tuesday formally launched its newest department: a tourism police force to facilitate travelers and nature-lovers, officials said.
The strikingly beautiful region with its forest-clad mountains is divided between India, which rules the populous Kashmir Valley and the Hindu-dominated region around Jammu city and Pakistan, which controls a wedge of territory in the west. Over the years, the region has become a dangerous flashpoint for violence between the two South Asian neighbors, and tourism has been badly hit by the conflict.
Now, with Pakistan’s renewed efforts to rack up tourism-related revenue figures, Pakistani Azad Kashmir is making inroads to a safer and more pleasant travel experience. This has included the lifting of tedious documentation, like the No Objection Certificates previously required for any foreign visitors looking to enter AJK.
In an exclusive chat with Arab News, Kashmir’s Minister for Information and Tourism Mushtaq Minhas said his department had received a number of “precedents” where police had misbehaved with tourists, but that the new policing initiative would “provide a fresh momentum to tourism sector in the region.”
The 120-strong tourism police force in their sea-green uniforms have undergone a week of training by tourism experts, and have been drawn from the district and reserve police in a project that has been jointly executed by the tourism department and police.
At their rained-out inauguration, the new members of AJK’s tourist police force pose for photographs next to their specially marked cars and motorcycles in Muzaffarabad, the capital of AJK, on June 24, 2019. (Credit: Police Media Center AJK)
The region they will serve boasts a diverse landscape packed with history, from hiking and trekking sites, trout fishing in the frozen waters of the Neelum River and the remains of a Buddhist civilization in the Sharda Valley.
Kashmir’s handicrafts, from embroidered Pashmina shawls to carpets, woodwork and silverware are well known around the world; souvenirs from a region that is often dubbed ‘heaven for tourists.’
Pakistan was last a prominent tourist destination in the 1970’s when the “hippie trail” brought Western travelers through the apricot and walnut orchards of the Swat Valley and Kashmir on their way to India and Nepal.
Since then, a debilitating security situation gradually chipped away at the number of visitors, though in recent years, militant attacks have fallen sharply in the mainly Muslim country of 208 million people and a government-level effort is underway to boost tourism.
Irshad Ahmad Pirzada, Director General of the Kashmir tourism department said the region’s tourism industry had a great deal of untapped potential in terms of revenue generation and expects that the launch of special tourism police will attract an ambitious 2-2.5 million tourists, compared to 1.5 million from last year. Arab News could not independently verify that figure.
AJK’s tourist police personnel take their brand new motorcycles for a ride after the inauguration of their force in Muzaffarabad, the capital of AJK, on June 24, 2019. (Credit police media center AJK)
The area’s police chief, Salahuddin Khan, told Arab News that the new police force which also included women officers among its ranks, would not perform ‘regular’ police duty but instead act as “hosts” to local and international visitors.
“From now onward, I’m sure there will be no room for any such complaints,” he said.
At the force’s rained out inauguration this week, AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider handed over the keys for six specially marked cars and 80 heavy motorcycles for the new tourism police.
As a pilot project, personnel of the force are being initially deployed to well-known tourist hotspots like Muzaffarabad, Rawalakot and Neelum districts, and according to police chief Khan, eventually tourism police would gradually be extended to the entire Pakistani Kashmir region.
“Personnel of tourism police will patrol entry points to known tourist spots. The force has strict directions to behave in a polite, respectful and composed manner with the tourists and guide them as and where required,” Khan said. There was also a helpline he added, that tourists could now call in need of help.
With 2019 declared as AJK’s “tourism year,” tourism minister Mushtaq Minhas said he was proud that it was Kashmir taking the lead in facilitating travelers and ensuring a friendly, crime-free stay for all.
