Kargil’s virgin beauty awaits tourism bloom

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Kargil, May 22

There are so many towering mountains that you miss the count within minutes of driving down the Zojila Pass, gateway to the remote Kargil district.

At an altitude of 11,575 feet, Zojila is a strategic and mesmerising mountain pass which remains shut for nearly six months each year by a wall of snow, snapping connectivity with Kargil and turning the district invisible on the state’s tourism circuit.

The district’s virgin beauty with never-ending series of snow-capped mountains and the gushing Suru river have the potential for turning Kargil into a major tourist destination, but is lacking on several fronts, including connectivity and infrastructure.

Locals allege that this is due to decades of discrimination by successive governments. The Zojila Pass reopens in May when dazzling sunshine melts the snow and clears the passage to Kargil, the site of India’s last-fought war with Pakistan and one of the state’s most remote corners.

In winter, the temperature in Kargil plunges to extreme freezing levels with mercury slipping to minus 20 degree Celsius. Drass, home to Tiger Hill and Tololing Hill, famed souvenirs of the 1999 war, is the second coldest inhabited place in the world having recorded minus 60 degree Celsius on January 9, 1995.

“In winter, Kargil look like a mini-Switzerland, but there is no one to see it,” said Syed Mujtaba, Executive Councillor of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Kargil (LAHDC-K).

Kargil is sparsely populated and the district is spread over vast wilderness. Its 1.4 lakh residents living in 129 villages are scattered over an area of 14,086 square kilometres, compared to Srinagar’s 12.36 lakh residents living in 294 square kilometres.

Mohammad Haneefa Jan, the Chief Executive Councillor (CEC) of LAHDC-K, said the tourism sector had failed to pick up pace in Kargil and blamed it on discrimination against the district.

“We have been demanding a tunnel through the Zojila Pass and a civilian air travel service. These two things are important for us to lead a normal life and the tourism sector to grow,” he said.

The tunnel, which would be an engineering marvel once completed, and civilian air transport to Kargil would establish round-the-year connectivity to the district, snow-bound for half the year.

Many residents, including clerics, believe that more funds and attention have been diverted to neighbouring Leh district, which has turned into a tourism hot spot over the years.

In the process, Kargil, without infrastructure and development, has become a transit station for tourists heading to Leh. Jan plans to change the status of the district from a transit station to a tourist destination.

He said the LAHDC-K was preparing an action plan to bring Kargil on the region’s tourism map. As part of the efforts, the LAHDC-K would organise an apricot festival and planned to host tour and travel agencies for a seven-day sight-seeing programme later this year.

“There is a great scope for adventure and heritage tourism. Kargil has a lot of potential which has not been explored so far,” he said. Adventure tourism possibilities included trekking, rafting and skiing while the heritage tourism plan took a look at Kargil’s historic position on the Silk Route.

Kargil had an important place on the ancient Silk Route, covering 6,437 kilometres through central Asian cities with terminal points in China and Venice in Europe.

As Kargil was approximately equidistant from Srinagar, Skardu, Leh and Padum, this made it central to traditions and cultures of many religions and civilisations.