Omar Abdullah says tourists spots closed after Pahalgam attack need to be reopened
Srinagar (PTI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday said his government's efforts to bring back tourists to the Union territory can work only after the tourist spots closed in the wake of Pahalgam terror attack are reopened.
"First, we have to reopen those places which have been shut. We did not shut these places in 35 years. When the militancy was at its peak, Drang or Doodhpathri were not closed, the upper areas of Gulmarg were not shut, Aru valley was not closed," he told reporters here.
Abdullah said some courage is needed to be shown and open tourist spots and promote them effectively.
Addressing criticism that his government was focusing too much on tourism, the chief minister said, "We are trying at our own level despite the fact that we are subjected to taunts that why are we doing so much tourism promotion?
"We know that homes of lakhs of people depend on it and we want tourism to be restored to the level that was there before the Pahalgam attack."
The chief minister said his government has sent teams outside the country to promote tourism, pointing out that a big delegation is in Singapore to restore tourism from Southeast Asia. They will also go to Berlin and London next month for tourism promotion, he added.
"If we talk about within the country, Nasir (Aslam Wani) had recently gone to Udaipur for promotions. We are not leaving any stone unturned . I cannot say that the Centre has not supported us, but, the reality is that unfortunately, we are talking in two voices from within J-K.
"On one hand, the elected government talks about tourism promotion, but on the other, the unelected government has kept a large part of Kashmir closed for tourism," he said.
Abdullah said if they is afraid to reopen famous resorts like Doodhpathri, Drang and some parts of Gulmarg, "it means there is danger. That is the reason the tourists are not coming."
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Trump says he ‘hasn’t even thought about’ continuing Iran ceasefire
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.
“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.
Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”
Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.
When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”
The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
