Days after separatist groups invited tourists to the Valley, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today called upon the people of the country to visit the state and enjoy its hospitality, saying that it was the safest place in the world for tourists.
"Jammu and Kashmir is the safest place not only in the country but the whole world for tourists and especially for women. You can move around here without any fear even during nights and nothing untoward will happen to you," Mehbooba said while speaking at a function here.
She said that women face many hardships in other places in the country but her government would not let them face any hardships here.
"We get to know what happens to women in broad daylight in other places, compared to that women can come here either by themselves or in groups. We will take good care of them and would not let them face any hardship," she said.
The chief minister said that her government would offer exciting packages to the tourists and invited them to visit the state along with their families.
"The atmosphere here is also very good, the place is picturesque and then snowfall is in the offing and I would like to invite all the people of the country to visit Kashmir and enjoy our hospitality.
"Kashmir is calling you all. We will offer exciting packages. We will organize a snow festival at Gulmarg in January, so I request the people of the country to visit Kashmir along with their children," she said.
Mehbooba's invite comes days after separatists made an appeal to tourists to visit the Valley, saying tourists and pilgrims from the world, including India, who intend to visit Kashmir were most welcome.
"From centuries, Kashmiris have been safeguarding and providing exemplary hospitality and safety to tourists and Yatris from the world, including India, as we have been taught hospitality, humanity and safeguarding the rights of guests by our great religion.
"Tourists and Yartris from the world, including India, who intend to visit Kashmir are most welcome," the separatists said in a statement on December 6.
Since the agitation broke out in July, tourism-related activities have come to a standstill in Kashmir.
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Mehbooba said when her father, who held the flag of mainstream politics, spoke about 'self-rule', he was labelled as "anti-national".
Commenting on the nature of the debate that took place on the Motion, the Chief Minister said she was happy to see that everybody talked about the Agenda of Alliance (AoA) between PDP and BJP.
"There are good things in Agenda of Alliance, so people discuss about it. We didn't bring those things from heaven. These are from the Working Groups (set up by the former central government) on which we all had reached a consensus and some of the things which PDP believes in, which we call 'self-rule' including opening of roads. Everybody agreed those working groups," she said.
Turning to the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), she said the Working Group said that as the situation improves, decision should be taken on it.
"Whenever situation improves, we have to make a start from somewhere," she said.
The Rangarajan Committee, she said, had recommended transfer of power projects to the state to make it financially viable. "We also said in 'self-rule' and everybody wants that too," she said.
Mehbooba, who is heading a coalition government of PDP and BJP, admitted that during the last Assembly elections, she had spoken about keeping the saffron party away, fearing that Article 370 was in "danger".
"I accept that I said so because, as I said, we all had apprehensions against each other and rightly or wrongly, BJP feels that abrogation of (Article) 370 can solve Kashmir issue. We have a different stand on this and when the mandate here was like BJP got majority in Jammu and we in Kashmir, to respect that mandate we had to take a decision (of alliance)," she said.
She said her father wanted to respect the mandate and keep the state united which was his conviction to bring Jammu and Kashmir out of this mess.
"We waited for 10 years during UPA government as (then Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh wanted to visit his ancestral house in Pakistan as he was born there and wanted to see his house but because of certain compulsions he could not go," she said.
"After 2014 Parliamentary elections, a big leader (came with a major mandate, we cannot close our eye," Mehbooba said, in an apparent reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"He had a vision that if we want to bring Jammu and Kashmir out of the mess, we need to shake hands with the leader who is in majority in Jammu and who can take a bold decision for which the alliance was forged," she said.
She went on to add, "We should not forget that it was Narendra Modi who, in the month of December (2015) went to Lahore like somebody goes from one house to another and attended the wedding of the grand daughter of Pakistani Prime Minister (Nawaz Sharif).
"We also feel that we are connected with history and geography and neither one can be changed. Howsoever we fight, at the end we have to learn to live with each other. It is up to us whether we should kill each other or live at peace.
