Students attend the G20 Model Summit Youth Inception meet, at Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC), on the banks of the Dal Lake, in Srinagar on 28 April, ahead of the tourism meet. G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar will be a significant occasion to highlight the region’s potential as a tourism destination. This will show the falsity of Pakistan’s claim that J&K is disturbed

NEW DELHI: While the Indian security agencies are already on the job to deal effectively with terror elements in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, currently presiding over G20, is focusing also on “tourism diplomacy” to promote tourism in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Such arrivals will counter Pakistan’s false narrative that “situation in this Himalayan region is far from normal”. The Modi government wants the G20 member countries to motivate and encourage their citizens to choose J&K and Ladakh as their tourism destinations given the scenic riches of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

Sources told The Sunday Guardian, “While both UTs are already popular as tourist hotspots for Indians, the government is working on a robust and effective plan under ‘tourism diplomacy’ to increase tourist influx from abroad to J&K and Ladakh.” “The idea is to generate more employment opportunities and further improve the economy of the UTs but also counter the agenda of Pakistan to stifle development there,” sources added. India wants the message to go out to the international community that things are all normal in these UTs. The G20 Tourism Working Group being organised in Srinagar next month will be a great opportunity for India to promote tourism diplomacy. The diplomats and other officials are said to have prepared a comprehensive plan to use this conclave for boosting tourism in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

“In fact, the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar will be a significant occasion that will highlight the region’s potential as a tourism destination. And definitely, this will be a strong counter to the negative narrative being pushed by Pakistan,” says an official aware of the preparations for the conclave. “The crowd of tourists from the G20 member nations and other countries of the world in these UTs will bear testimony to the fact that that all is well and normal in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, contrary to Pakistan’s propaganda,” sources said.

Pakistan is already lobbying against the G20 summit, and China is reported by sources in Islamabad to be silently backing Islamabad’s propaganda. Pakistan is pushing its G20 partners to block the conference from taking place in Srinagar, including through calls to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and China. India has already ramped up diplomatic action on all these three countries to participate in the summit, sources said. According to top diplomatic sources, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh gave a clear message to his Chinese counterpart during Friday’s bilateral meeting. “Rajnath’s statement that accountability should be fixed on the nations supporting terror activities is a message not only for Pakistan, but also for China,” sources said, adding, “if China supports or becomes a part of Pakistan’s agenda to disturb peace in Jammu and Kashmir, accountability will be fixed on it as well.” “Therefore, if China chooses to skip the Srinagar G20 Tourism meet, then it will be proof of its support to Pakistan’s agenda of blocking development and normalcy,” diplomats say, adding, it will be difficult for China to stay away from the Srinagar conclave when it daily talks of its eagerness to have good relations with India, a country that is contributing over $100 billion a year to the PRC’s trade surplus.

The Pakistan army is irked with India’s Ministry of Home Affairs report, saying that Jammu and Kashmir, which used to be a “terrorist hotspot” has become a “tourist hotspot” as 22 lakh tourists visited the Union Territory in 2022, nearly four times more than the previous highest. The Poonch terror attack by Pakistan-based terror groups was, according to sources, an attempt to create a false impression at the behest of Islamabad that normalcy was not there in Jammu and Kashmir. It was also a part of Pakistan’s conspiracy to weaken the economy of the state so that the resulting jobless youth of the UT could be misguided and radicalised easily, say security officials.

It is in this backdrop that PM Modi is focused on boosting tourism in the UTs so as to defeat the sinister agenda of the neighbouring country. This he seeks by creating massive job opportunities. The upcoming G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Srinagar will therefore be important for showcasing Jammu and Kashmir’s potential as a tourism destination, not just for India, but also for the entire world. This is the basic idea behind PM Modi’s tourism diplomacy, sources said.

“Diplomats and tourism ministry officials are prepared to show the international community during the meeting from 22 to 24 May that Jammu and Kashmir has changed for the better. Peace and prosperity has returned to the UT as a result of the Central government’s massive efforts to eliminate terrorism,” sources said. Union Tourism Secretary Arvind Singh recently said the TWG meeting in Jammu and Kashmir will be an important event, because there “we will finalise the Goa declaration”, which will be the ministerial communiqué that will emerge from the G20 discussions. “We are hopeful that the G20 tourism ministers› conference in Goa due later this year will focus on sustainable tourism to support the environment and create opportunities for local businesses,” he said. It means that the Srinagar conclave will be quite crucial as it will set the agenda for the Tourism ministerial meeting of the G20 countries. “With this in view, the Indian side will be using tourism diplomacy, convincing the G20 nations to further promote Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as a top tourist hub of the world,” sources said.