Colourful start to 3-day Sindhu Darshan

Mufti stresses on greater interaction of people to remove misgivings KT NEWS SERVICE Leh, June 18- On the banks of the Indus River flowing through the picturesque outskirts of Leh, the 3- day Sindhu Darshan Festival -2004 today took off amid great fanfare.

The Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed inaugurated the festival.

The Governor of Tamil Nadu, Ram Mohan Rao, Union Minister for Tourism, Renuka Chowdhary, Minister for Tourism, J&K, Ghulam Hassan Mir, Minister for Information Technology, Nawang Rigzin Jora, Minister for Sports and Youth Services, Haji Nisar Ali, Ministers for Tourism from Uttranchal and Delhi, Member Parliament, Thupstan Chewang, legislator, Sonam Wangchuk Narboo, former MP, T.

Namgyal and a large number of domestic and foreign tourists and local people were present.

The highlight of the festival was the mixing of waters from the Brahmaputra, the Ganges, the Yamuna and the Godawari into the Indus.

Cultural programmes depicting the distinctive colours of Ladakh and the country were also presented.

Famous Bharat Natayam dancer, Sonal Mansingh gave a scintillating performance while the local Ladakhi dancers also received ample adulation from the audience.

This year's Sindhu Darshan Festival for the first time saw the arrival of guests from Pakistan who had been invited by the Sindhi Academy, New Delhi to the festival.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that he supported free movement of people from one country to the other and believed in dismantling the walls of hatred that were dividing the people.

He said he was working towards forging greater interaction between the people that would ultimately lead to the end of suspicion and misgivings and promote friendship and amity.

Welcoming the arrival of guests from Pakistan, the Chief Minister said it was the first time in 57 years that we have received official tourists from Pakistan.

He said it was a good beginning that should culminate in free movement of people on either side of the Line of Control.

"Greater interaction of people on both sides will change their mindset", he said and recalled that he had taken up this matter with the former Prime Minister and the former Deputy Prime Minister.

He said he was for allowing people of Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to visit Jammu and Kashmir like they go to other parts of the country.

He said that similarly, people from Jammu and Kashmir should be allowed to visit Pakistan and the PoK.

This, he said, would remove lots of misconceptions among the people on both sides.

He said wrong notion had been fed to the people of Pakistan that people in Jammu and Kashmir were captives of the security forces.

Likewise, he added, some people on this side had this feeling that the real Islam existed in Pakistan alone.

He said that if the people of both sides were allowed free movement all these misconceptions and wrong beliefs would go.

He said he would take up this issue with the new union government also.

The Chief Minister said that Kashmir was the show window of Indian secularism and democracy where people of all countries including Pakistan should be encouraged to visit and see the flowering of these two cherished ideals of the country.

He said he would also persuade the Centre to open the Ladakh route for Kailash Mansarovar yatra in Tibet.

He said this was an easy, short and motorable route compared to the Uttranchal route.

He asked the union government to concede this long pending demand so that the economy of Ladakh gets a fillip with the arrival of large number of tourists.

He said he did not want the present Uttranchal route to be abandoned but open up Ladakh as an alternate route for the pilgrims.

Describing the holding of the annual Sindhu Darshan Festival as a good step to promote tourism in Ladakh, Mufti Sayeed said it would attract a large number of domestic and foreign tourists to the Moonland.

He said there was tremendous potential of tourism in the region particularly of the adventure tourism that had to be exploited in full.

He said he would request the Centre to throw open all the lofty mountains of Ladakh for trekkers and mountaineers and urged the central tourism ministry to present the area as a package for the state bound tourists.

He also asked for increase in flights to Srinagar and Leh from different parts of the country.

He said at present the flights to these two destinations were far too less than the demand.

Responding to the local problems, the Chief Minister said his government had focussed attention on development of the area.

He said since the coalition government in the state assumed office, he had visited Ladakh for the sixth time today.

He said the government had ensured equitable distribution of resources and each region was feeling as an equal partner in the development process.

He said the grievances that earlier existed in Ladakh had been addressed.

He said the government had empowered the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh and a similar council was set up in Kargil district meeting the long pending demand of the people.

In her address, Union Minister for Tourism, Renuka Chowdhary said that due care would have to be taken to preserve the ecology of Ladakh while opening it for more and more tourists.

She said she would never like the beautiful place to be transformed into a dump of plastic and polythene.

Chowdhary said that her ministry was above politics and committed to the people of all the regions of the country irrespective of their political affiliations.

She said the Indian culture held guests in the highest esteem and it was with the same spirit that tourists were received here.

She said her ministry would showcase Ladakh as the best place in the country.

The J&K Minister for Tourism, Ghulam Hassan Mir said that tourism in Ladakh remained more or less unaffected during the long turmoil in Jammu and Kashmir.

He said that while the Kashmir tourism suffered the greatest damage, it was encouraging that Ladakh continued to attract domestic and foreign tourists.

Mir said that Ladakh was culturally a very rich area which could be packaged to the intending tourists.

He urged the union tourism ministry to consider this aspect.

He said the state government was committed to the development of tourism in Ladakh.

Speaking on the occasion, the Miniter for Information Technology, Nawang Rigzin said that the Sindhu Darshan Festival offered an opportunity for the people of the country and foreigners to know the land and its people.

He said the people of Ladakh were the true inheritors of the Indus Valley Civilization.

Rigzin said that with the improvement in the Indo-Pak relations, the Centre must consider opening of Nobra Valley for the mountaineers.

He also demanded opening of Ladakh route for Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.