Lately PM has emphasised on tourism in AJK and GB. I have fond memories of Kashmir so took to the road to see some doable projects. My best memories in Kashmir are of Neelum as I was posted there at time of my marriage, this was in 1991/2 when Kashmir saw worst floods. I remember there were no mobiles and letter writing was only means of communication or sometimes if operator was kind to connect you back home on those old model phones. In one such letter from my mother (RIP) I was told about my marriage dates in winters and to reach back home. Sitting at 10000 feet I made my programme and as a young captain went wrong, told my commanding officer that I would like to go as late as possible and would be kind if I can catch Helo near to the dates fixed. He warned me not to take risk as helos are not assured but who cares I took risk. I descended to my Battalion Headquarters a day before when Helo was expected. Luck was not on my side and it started snowing and finally I had no option to reach home and walked from Dudnial to Jura in snow, intermittently got some local jeeps, this was almost 32 kms walk. Had to book a complete van as after evenings nothing used to ply from Muzaffarabad. Reached home limping and mother was furious! It was a day or two before my marriage with blisters on my feet and limping groom – later in life got few opportunities to visit Kashmir and saw all the front but never by road to Lipa. I am also maybe only one of the luckiest, who happened to see Kupwara from a close distance as me and my roommate who left Army years back and shifted to London, lost our way and crossed border. It’s a long story but credit goes to seniors who had big heart not to punish us, rather we became hero at that time. What I want to say whenever I travel to Kashmir it is with lots of nostalgia.
We left Islamabad at 10 in morning, Murree expressway has been transformed lately and is getting a complete overhaul even is lit at night. Was pleasing to see new rest rooms being made and hope they are paid. We reached junction of Murree Muzaffarabad in an hour, another hour descending on south slopes of Murree on a fairly good road and in another one hour we were at Kohala Bridge over river Jhelum, the flora is not typical Kashmir while travelling to Kohala as heights reduce and was relatively hot day. From Kohala bridge another one hour on again a fair road and you reach Muzaffarabad. We had a quick tea and cigarette break along river Neelum which cuts the city into two. Interestingly my host here was a young captain who was an SSG officer who had joined from South Balochistan, he was to be married in December and was leaving a few months later to South Balochistan again! He was more excited about going to Balochistan than his marriage, this many few in civil life would understand what SSG motivation means !!! he told me he enjoys life in operations area more than this life. As an elder I told him that after marriage bring your wife to Muzaffarabad and show him around Kashmir before you join south Balochistan, may he have long life. AJK gets almost double the tourists compared to GB but hardly any foreigner and even very few high end tourists. Last year 3.2 Mn tourists visited while 60 percent in Neelum valley, I was told that this year due to May incident and floods in Punjab / Sind figures have drastically gone down.
From Muzaffarabad we took a local guide and started moving towards Lipa on Chakothi road, this is a good road and you pass by Garhi Dopata, we also passed by Kashmiri refugee camp I remember my wife had done lot of hard work on these refugees once and we made them a skill centre by name of K creations a brand to preserve art of Kashmiri shawl weaving and to give livelihood. As we moved ahead sometimes you are lost seeing boards and milestones of Srinagar, Baramula and Uri. Anyway, we had no plans to visit Chakothi which is one of main crossing points leading to Indian Held Kashmir but looking at good road condition and distance we went to Chakothi. This is one of most organized crossing points. Till 2015 even a bus used to ply between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad and till 2019 truck trade service, it has all the infrastructure. Indians have gone bonkers and their deep rooted hatred for Kashmiris across borders is evident here. I believe it can become an iconic tourist destination to see LOC. This location is overlooked by Tilpatra ridge where Captain Sarwar was awarded first Nishan Haider posthumous. This is also place from where river Jhelum enters AJK and across it is famous Pandu ridge. I can also proudly claim that my Paltan Guides Infantry also fought here in 1971 and were saviours of Lipa and Maj Aziz from Swabi laid his life and awarded SJ. Later once the war ended another skirmish goes into history when Indians occupied one of mountains and 25 brave young officers & men of Guides including Lt Sabhat later Lt Gen and Lt Durrani later Col did not only take back two ridges but killed 83 Indians the Nullah is still called Khoni Nullah I went to the monument to see their names still shining. Guides in defence of Lipa was supported by scouts again commanded by a veteran Col Hamid Afridi from Guides. Chakothi axis is fairly developed when I compare to many areas of GB the people also look affluent and even happy. There is lot of life along bazars along the roads, in times to come with growing population I think they have become choke points. One more thing very prominent was schools they did not only look clean but also built very differently than other stereotype all over the country. I believe AJK has high literacy rate because of these standards. One can find women folk working and typical culture of Kashmir is visible. There are some scenic spots along river Jhelum, boys playing cricket and old people sitting along roads. AJK government has made tourist points but sadly all are dysfunctional. It was breezy but temperature was high at 31 degree. Short of Chenari we turned North West and crossed Jhelum heading to Lipa.
Road leading to Lipa becomes narrow, twisting and ascending constantly at a good gradient, we had been constantly travelling for 5 hours and 3 more to go to Lipa, usually we survive on peanuts and kept feeding my driver. An hour on small snake road the flora changes conifers and that too thick and old, the temperature dropped by 10 degrees and weather becomes pleasant we had travelled an hour into beautiful village of Reshian typical Kashmiri houses wide apart spread over the mountains with shining tin roofs. I did notice that new houses have same design but people are using blocks, prefab and less wood, though that wood finish houses have own aura but I must appreciate found very less wood logging compared to other areas. We stopped at a point to look back at beautiful valley with tree line. As we travelled for another half an hour we reached tourist motel Dao Khan this belongs to AJK tourism department very well sited and with spectacular views, unfortunately in bad shape and this was only motel of its kind in area, it can be converted into an iconic place and can attract lot of tourists, the curator told us that it hardly had any occupancy this year but was functional with ordinary rooms. As we ascended the forest went thick, the people less now in numbers were mostly poor and raising sheep, could find hamlets spread on water shed and deep in forest or on meadows they are called Bhakan, these are summer pastures which are left unattended in snow season. As we descended I noticed more than 10 slide shelters felt good as they protect roads. I inquired what language people speak mostly Hindko but many can speak Kashmiri as well. As we reached the top we had travelled 2 hours and the ascend starts for around 40 minutes. We were entering Lipa valley it seems it’s veiled in forests. I must say we had intermittent breakage of communication but is much better than GB. One moment made me laugh saw a Kashmiri lady with her water pitcher on head and chatting with both hands on mobile, I think this is a big change in their life. As we started approaching Lipa village we were told that the mountain immediately in front is Indian post which overlooks the valley. The valley opens up, the dress of people changes one could see women folk wearing Kashmiri shawls and caps. The landscape also changes Paddy fields and Wooden houses, lot of walnuts and Mulberry trees and running streams make you say Waoo. The sun was setting as we entered Lipa it was chilly and woollies were out! We entered the bazar ordinary but could find everything I noticed some very basic hotels, restaurant and rest houses. At the beginning of bazar I saw a board tunnel chowk, later on asking was told that Lipa gets blocked in winter and a tunnel has been promised to them so they have named it as tunnel chowk so that government does not forget. We were tired and wanted to retire but our host called us for dinner besides a running water stream amongst ambient lights, it refreshed us, we talked about tourism opportunities I believe place is ideal for winters and summers as it gets lots of snow, also this is ideal place for glamping and biking. Concept of Airbnb can be a huge success and can be game changer for local community. We retired into our room in warm quilts tired – to start a fresh day tomorrow.
MD Green Tourism
Hassan
