ADVERTISEMENTAuthorities in Indian-controlled Kashmir have temporarily closed more than half of the tourist resorts in the insurgency-torn region after last week’s attack on holidaymakers raised tensions between India and Pakistan and led to a security crackdown.
The decision to shut 48 of the 87 government-authorised resorts in the scenic Himalayan region was a precautionary safety measure, according to local officials.
The move comes a week after gunmen killed 26 people, most of them Indian tourists, near the resort town of Pahalgam. Some tourists who survived the massacre told Indian media that the assailants singled out Hindu men and shot them at close range.
Hindu-majority India has described the massacre in the Muslim-majority region as a «terror attack» and accused Pakistan of backing it.
Pakistan has denied any connection to the attack, and it was claimed by a previously unknown militant group calling itself the Kashmir Resistance.
India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.
New Delhi describes all militant activity in Indian-controlled Kashmir as Pakistan-backed terrorism. Pakistan denies this, and many Muslim Kashmiris consider the militants to be part of a struggle for freedom.
The attacks last week set off a raft of tit-for-tat diplomatic measures between the neighbours, ranging from visas being cancelled to diplomats being recalled. New Delhi also suspended a crucial water sharing treaty with Islamabad and ordered the closure of its border with Pakistan. In response, Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian airlines.
Indian tourism had flourished in Kashmir in recent years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government promoted travel to the region with the hope of showing rising visitor numbers as a sign of renewed stability there.
Millions of visitors travel to Indian-administered Kashmir every year to see its Himalayan foothills and exquisitely decorated houseboats, despite regular skirmishes between insurgents and government forces. According to official data, close to 3 million tourists visited the region in 2024, a rise from 2.71 million visitors in 2023 and 2.67 million in 2022.
However, last week’s attack has scared tourists, and some have since left the region. Widespread cancellations are also being reported by tour operators, with some estimates putting the number at more than 1 million.
As tensions escalate, cross-border firing between soldiers of India and Pakistan has also increased along the Line of Control, the de facto 740-kilometre frontier that separates Kashmiri territory between the two rivals.
On Tuesday, the Indian army said in a statement that it had responded to «unprovoked» small arms fire from multiple Pakistan army posts for a fifth consecutive night. There was no comment from Pakistan, and the incidents have not been independently verified.
