Enhancing AJK’s potential

US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome’s visit to Azad Jammu and Kashmir attracted major national and international attention as no other US ambassador had visited AJK over the last six years.

In the context of the steadily improving Pakistan-US relations, this visit was given great importance in diplomatic and political circles. The American ambassador lavishly praised the beauty of the region as well as the traditional hospitality, intelligence and hard work of its people through his social media accounts. Consequently, his visit played an important role in introducing Azad Kashmir to the world as a potential tourist destination.

The ambassador interacted with people from almost all walks of life and discussed the prospects of the US government and private sector’s partnership with local entrepreneurs and civil society. He first went to Azad Jammu and Kashmir University where he paid respect to the students and teachers who were martyred in the devastating October 2005 earthquake and also discussed the possibility of further cooperation in the education sector.

On the outskirts of Muzaffarabad city, an old guest house, built in the pre-partition era, now called the Quaid-e-Azam Residency, caught the ambassador’s exceptional attention and interest. He tweeted: “The Quaid-e-Azam Memorial Dak Bungalow symbolizes the cultural and historical richness of Pakistan and was famously visited by Jinnah in 1944. I’m honored to visit during my first trip to AJK”.

Quaid-e-Azam had stayed there along with Ms Fatima Jinnah on his way to Rawalpindi from Srinagar. Most of the people across Pakistan hardly know that Quaid-e-Azam had a night stay in Muzaffarabad.

An America-returned Kashmiri businessman, Mahmood Ul Haq, established a healthcare IT Services Company in Bagh which has been named CareCloud. It is the largest private-sector employment provider in AJK. Currently, out of its 2525 employees, 20 per cent are women workers. Mostly, local young men and women get jobs in this company and upscale their IT skills. Ambassador Blome travelled to Bagh to encourage its owner and employees who have been doing business with American hospitals despite living in a remote area of AJK where ten hours of power blackouts are a part of daily life along with a harsh winter and slow internet.

The successful business model of CareCloud shows that with the help of the Pakistani diaspora in the US, dozens of IT companies can be created in the region where thousands, if not millions of people, can get decent employment. With a little attention, more American companies can be brought to Azad Kashmir. Due to its geographical proximity to Islamabad, Peshawar and Lahore; a better law and order situation; the existence of a middle class and a large proportion of tech-savvy youth, Azad Kashmir should become an attractive location for more US IT companies to invest.

Prime Minister Azad Kashmir Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan, a successful businessman himself, had wide-ranging discussions about several developmental issues and sought US cooperation in the fields of tourism development, agriculture, energy, and power generation. The prime minister also requested Ambassador Blome to play a role in starting an exclusive academic exchange programme with American universities for Kashmiri students so that they can harness their professional skills.

The government of Pakistan has been facilitating the arrival of foreign tourists in Azad Kashmir for the past few years. Many tourists also visited the picturesque valleys of Muzaffarabad and Poonch, and a few celebrities and influencers uploaded fascinating vlogs, and social media posts grabbing everyone’s attention and admiration which greatly helped brand the tourist destinations of the region. Notably, the UN representative in Pakistan visited Muzaffarabad twice in recent months. Keeping in view the legitimate concerns of the security apparatus, a mechanism should be developed to ensure the safety of foreign tourists and the frequent influx of foreign tourists.

The key to the development of Azad Kashmir lies in the hands of Kashmiris. Gallup Pakistan surveyed AJK in July 2021 to sense the social and political pulse of the region. According to the survey, 39 per cent of people said that someone from their immediate family lives abroad. Thirty-three per cent said that someone in their immediate family lives outside Kashmir, in the major cities of Pakistan. This means that 70 per cent of the population’s relatives are either living in the big cities of Pakistan or abroad, particularly in the UK and the US. These people are the real assets of Kashmir, like Mahmood Ul Haq, who can bring in foreign investment, and act as a bridge between foreign companies and entrepreneurs.

To capitalize on the above-mentioned potential, the federal and AJK governments have to first solve some of the critical problems which significantly discourage local tourism, particularly international visitors. The major problem is the absence of a fast internet facility. Currently, 2G and 3G internet services are available in AJK which is one of the major barriers to the rapid growth of tourism. The federal government has to remove the obstacles that exist in providing high-speed internet in AJK. Likewise, roads from Rawalpindi to Azad Kashmir, especially to Rawalakot, Kotli and Dadyal, have almost gone to ruins.

The representatives of political parties and civil society actors also raised the significance of the resolution of the long-pending Kashmir issue, and also apprised the ambassador of the constant sufferings of the Kashmiris, seeking active mediation by the US to resolve this issue in the interest of about one-fourth of the world’s population of South Asia.

Kashmiris are much better storytellers than anyone else if they get a platform and access to the international community. Kashmir’s story has the resonance to induce global empathy. Ambassador Blome’s visit to Muzaffarabad and Bagh greatly helped brand AJK as an attractive tourist destination as well as a region needing immediate relief and peace.

The writer is a freelance contributor. He tweets @ErshadMahmud and can be reached at: ershad.mahmud@gmail.com