Pakistan and India have pledged to end all firing along their disputed Kashmir frontier. The state of Jammu and Kashmir has been at the center of a dispute between the two countries for more than 70 years.
Kashmir has been disputed by India and Pakistan since 1947Image: Getty Images/AFP/R. Bakshi
Advertisement
Military leaders in India and Pakistan have announced an agreement to stop cross-border firing on the disputed Line of Control in Kashmir.
Exchange of gunfire has become more prevalent in recent months and the military operational heads of the two countries spoke by phone on Thursday, seeking to calm the situation.
The pair agreed to discuss each other's concerns, a joint statement from the military leaders said.
Seeking 'sustainable peace'
"The Director Generals of Military Operations of India and Pakistan (DGsMO) held discussions over the established mechanism of hotline contact," the statement began. "The two sides reviewed the situation along the Line of Control and all other sectors in a free, frank and cordial atmosphere."
"In the interest of achieving mutually beneficial and sustainable peace along the borders, the two DGsMO agreed to address each other's core issues and concerns which have propensity to disturb peace and lead to violence," the statement said.
A woman's perspective of the Kashmir conflict
03:40
This browser does not support the video element.
Decades of dispute
India and Pakistan have been at loggerheads over Kashmir for decades, with intermittent periods of peace. However, in August 2019 tension was renewed after New Delhi withdrew the autonomy of the Himalayan region and split it into federally administered territories.
Most of Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since they became independent countries in 1947, with its remote eastern extremity controlled by China. Both India and Pakistan claim the region in its entirety.
Insurgents in Kashmir have been fighting Indian rule since 1989, with some estimates suggesting more than 70,000 people have been killed in the armed conflict.
Kashmir: Tourism rebound offers hope to businesses hit hard by lockdowns
Tourists are flocking to Kashmir's snow-filled resorts, as the region reels from an economic hit wrought by the COVID pandemic and New Delhi's harsh lockdown restrictions.
Image: Rifat Fareed/DW
Heavy tourist influx in 2021
The heavy influx of tourists this year has given new cheer to the people of India-administered Kashmir. It is a dramatic change for the tourism industry in the disputed region, which faced the double whammy of the coronavirus pandemic and harsh curbs on civil rights New Delhi imposed in the region in August 2019.
Image: Rifat Fareed/DW
Idyllic hill station
Located at a high altitude, Gulmarg is considered as one of the best places for winter sports in Asia. With its blanket of white, the idyllic hill station is seeing tourists again fill its hotels and ski, sledge and trek its Himalayan landscape.
Image: Rifat Fareed/DW
A year-round destination
Gulmarg was developed as a resort by the British nearly a century ago, and the region's eternal appeal with foreign visitors has made it a year-round destination. In summer, tourists meander through meadows, ravines and evergreen-forested valleys. In winter, they snowboard, ski, and trek on Asia's largest ski terrain.
Image: Rifat Fareed/DW
An unprecedented clampdown
The 2019 end of Kashmir's semi-autonomous status and an unprecedented security clampdown morphed Gulmarg into a ghost town. New Delhi also imposed a communications shutdown in the restive region to quell unrest after it revoked the territory's semi-autonomy and brought it under direct rule.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Zargar
Severe economic losses
The restrictions caused severe economic and job losses in Kashmir. It also impaired the already feeble health care system and paused the school and college education of millions. The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries pegged the economic losses in the region at $5.3 billion (€4.37 billion) and about half a million jobs lost till August last year.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/T. Mustafa
Pandemic compounds woes
Last March, Indian authorities enforced a harsh lockdown to combat the coronavirus, all but halting foreign travel. But the pandemic made Indians reconsider their own vacations, with many of them deciding to travel to Gulmarg when otherwise they might have gone abroad.
Image: Rifat Fareed/DW
'A good sign'
For the first time in 15 months, hotels are sold out until the end of February. "For January and February, we have had 100% bookings in Gulmarg which is a good sign. We hope the trend keeps going upward," a tourism official told DW. Some tourists say they're visiting Gulmarg this time because of the COVID-related travel restrictions in places like Europe.
