Hope and fear while tourists return to paralgam after the attack

One week after a devastating militant attack near the Pahagam mountain resort in the Indian runway, 26 people were killed, the city was wearing a look of quiet ruin, although tourists have begun to retreat in small numbers.

The main main street, which gave up the visitors last week – with the closure of stores and completely emptying hotels – sees life signs again.

Last Tuesday, the militants opened fire on people, most of them tourists, who were visiting Paisran, the mountain meadow three miles (5 km) from Bahajam, often described as “Switzerland in India”.

The attack was one of the most bloody attack in recent years, as it destroyed the lives of many families and raised widespread anger in India.

In the days after this, tensions between India and Pakistan, both claiming the entire cashmere but partially managed, are significantly, with each aspect of revenge measures against the other.

There is now increasing speculation about whether there will be a military response from Delhi.

While violence has often erupted in the region, where militants have been targeting security forces and civilians since the outbreak of the rebellion in 1989, the killing of the fleeing tourists was rare and shocked local companies and tourists alike.

Tourism is the basic pillar of the economy in places like Paalgam, and there is now a fear that many livelihoods have irreversibly supplication.

At “Selfie Point Point” outside the city, it overlooks the lush promoter and a hasty river, Akshay Solanki, a Mumbai tourist, said there was “panic” between a group of travelers on the day of the attack. But they decided to continue their journey because flights in the homeland have become unbearable.

Other tourists said that continuous cleansing of the local population and security forces had given them a feeling of comfort. A driver who brought visitors from the capital, Srenagar, told the Indian BBC that he was pleading with those who visit not “moving” from Kashmir.

Three days later, Ravi Ahmed, a shawl, said that he was able to sell only a few pieces and feared for his long -term livelihood if tourists stop to come.

Among those who urge tourists to come to Bahajam, the actor of Bollywood Atoul Kulkarni, who visited the city days after the attack. “Do not come here, we must respond by coming to larger numbers,” BBC Hindi told BBC Hindi.

“Do not cancel the reservations, cancel your other plans and come here,” said Colikney.

But uncertainty and fear waving on the horizon in Paalgam, and it may take several years before regaining a feeling of normal life.

The Indian authorities launched combing operations in the area, detained hundreds of people and destroyed homes for alleged militants.

According to the exchange of India and Pakistan, small weapons fire across the border.

The escalation of tensions is to keep tourists and business owners on TENTERHOKS.

Often, the Indian authorities claimed that Kashmir witnessed a period of relative peace after the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi canceled its independent situation in 2019. Before the general elections of India in 2024, Modi praised the “freedom” that came to the region, saying that Kashmir was touching new heights of development because she was breathing freely.

Senior leaders referred to high tourism figures – about 23 million years in the past year and millions in previous years – as evidence of a big boom after unwanted years. But the attacks last week, again, broke any idea of ​​the permanent peace in the comfortable valley.

“This attack) is a stain for us … how do we delete it is a long -term concern,” said Ravi Ahmed Mir, a politician from Bahmega, and he urged tourists to remember that the local Kashmiris were the ones who rushed after the attacks, and even picking the bodies.

Abhishek Sansari, a regulator that will be based in Mumbai, stated that the rate of canceling planned trips from cities such as Bon, Mumbai and Bangaluru is very high. A group of prominent tourist tourists said at a press conference that about 80-90 % of all reservations had been canceled.

“After the attack, there is a feeling that the war is looming on the horizon. So tourists feel confused about what to do,” Sansari said. “Some of those who have already carried out prior reservations are progressing in their plans. I will also go there on the second of next month.”

It is also possible that the attack on tourists on Kashmir in other ways. This opening is scheduled to take place to the highest individual railway bridge in the world, which is scheduled to link Wadi Kashmir with the rest of India this month after several delay.

A source told the BBC: The timetable for the opening of this show project now “seems uncertain.”

The area was just began to attract emerging business investments, but they also might dry if the fighting rose.

“People who were investing in logistical services and other sectors will now think twice because of the security environment. Until they recover some confidence, I do not expect upcoming investments to Kashmir immediately,” said Ober Shah, who has one of the largest cold storage facilities in Poloama Province in southern Kashmir.

As boiling in the area continued, local leaders expressed their deep pain to the families who lost their loved ones.

In an enthusiastic speech at the Jammu and Kashmir Association on Monday, the Prime Minister of the State and the Minister of Tourism, Omar Abdullah, praised the victims by reading the names of all 26 people.

He said that people from every part of the country are attacked, and while they came to Kashmir based on his call, he was unable to ensure their safe return.

“I had no words to apologize to them. What can I say to the children who saw their father drowned in the blood? To the widow of the naval officer who was barely married a few days ago?

“Some people told me that they would come to Kashmir for the first time, but they will have to pay the long life,” he said, adding that the attack had “cavity” Kashmir.