CIAO DATE: 08/2011
July 2011
United States Institute of Peace
The promotion of cross–Line of Control (LoC) tourism extends the modality of making borders irrelevant between adversarial states. The reasons are simple. Any means that promote greater interaction between the local populations on both sides of intervening borders—disputed or otherwise—enable greater understanding between neighbors. This is especially true of people who have been part of the same historical tradition until separated by the vicissitudes of international politics. Hence, freer people-to-people contacts catalyze the process of enlarging mutual understanding. These are general propositions. However, the case for cross-LoC tourism in the former princely state of Kashmir, which was divided between India and Pakistan in 1947 and now embodies a bitter dispute that has endured over six decades, is uniquely favorable in many respects. First, both India and Pakistan were carved out of British India. Without getting into the tangled history of the Kashmir dispute, it needs emphasizing that the problem of Kashmir coincided with British India’s partition, leading to beliefs that it symbolizes the unfinished effort to redraw geographical boundaries. Naturally, this exercise has left behind considerable human debris, such as the separated families living on both sides of the LoC, whether in Pakistani-controlled Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) or Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The LoC starts in the Jammu region and meanders through Rajouri, Poonch, Baramulla, Kargil, and Turtuk before reaching NJ 9842, the end point of the LoC near the mouth of the Siachen Glacier. Divided families have a clear interest in making the LoC irrelevant by promoting greater contacts through trade, travel, and tourism and, indeed, are enthusiastic about promoting cross-LoC travel and tourism.
Resource link: Tourism and Peacebuilding in Jammu and Kashmir [PDF] - 234K