Op-Ed: How Tourism in Kashmir Serves the Nationalist Politics of India
Photo Credit: Colin Tsoi / CC BY-ND 2.0
Located in the northern regions of India and Pakistan, Kashmir has been called “Paradise on Earth,” attesting to the presence of its breathtaking mountains, rivers, and lakes. Terraced gardens with water channels and flowers induce rest and gratitude, drawing upon the Islamic belief of Paradise. Tourists to the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, numbering 20 million in 2023, enjoy the iconic experiences of embarking on houseboats on the pristine lakes and skiing down the slopes of the Himalayas. In 2023, more than 400 thousand people embarked on the Amarnath Yatra, a pilgrimage to an icy cave that many Hindus consider sacred.
After more than thirty years of separatist insurgency in Kashmir, militant violence has declined and tourism has grown. But the impression that locals are happy with this status quo is an illusion. The desire for autonomy has been prominent for centuries, with the region being ruled by a foreign power since 1589. Treated as a territory of economic extraction, Kashmir was subjected to forced labor and exorbitant taxation, even having been “sold” by the British East India Company to a local ruler. Following independence from the British Empire, the Kashmiris were promised a referendum to determine their political status as an independent country or as a state of India or Pakistan, which has never been fulfilled. Amongst several wars, Kashmir was divided between Pakistan, India, and to a small extent China — a split in Kashmiri society that primarily fulfills the geopolitical interests of those countries.
Upon the 2019 revocation of Article 370, a constitutional provision of India that provided autonomy to the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, the national government engaged in a communications blackout and crackdown on protests. As of 2024, more than half a million Indian soldiers are stationed in Jammu and Kashmir, continuing thirty years of dense militarization. Out of fear of being monitored, Kashmiris have avoided reporting crimes to police. Additionally, following the revocation of Article 370, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a figurehead of the Hindu Nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has facilitated the settlement of non-Kashmiri Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir, another direct attack on the autonomy and dignity of the region.
Police Suppression of Article 370 Revocation Protest.
Photo Credit: Tasnim News Agency / CC BY-ND 4.0
In acknowledging these human rights abuses, will tourism alleviate some of this pain, bringing economic benefit and cultural understanding? The answer is likely yes. However, the question presumes that tourists act as courteous guests, respecting the honor of their hosts. As Kashmiri researcher Mohamad Junaid has stated, tourism to Jammu and Kashmir has become a “nationalist pilgrimage,” validating the region as an intrinsic part of the Indian state. If military occupation and settler colonialism represent underlying layers of repression, tourism is the icing that sweetens this bitter reality. Ordinary people are given the opportunity to taste the results of their nationalist cake by claiming “paradise” as their own.
Nationalist tourism has been implemented in the occupation of other regions as well, perhaps the most apparent example being Palestine. Mudasir Amin and Samreen Mushtaq, Kashmiri researchers writing for the Middle East Eye, note that tourists flock not only to Jammu and Kashmir, but also to Israeli settlements in Palestine for politico-religious reasonswrapped in aesthetic pleasure. Israeli settlements invite tourists to visit olive groves, wineries, and archaeological sites, denying the existence of previous Palestinian villages, similar to the tourist’s view of Kashmir as a place of natural beauty devoid of indigenous suffering. Using religious doctrine as justification, Zionist settlers claim Palestinian land as solely theirs, just as the Hindu Nationalist government of India promotes the Amarnath Yatra pilgrimage as a means of furthering militarization and territorial consolidation of Kashmir.
However, the case of Jammu and Kashmir differs from Palestine in its perception as a “territory of desire,” a term coined by Professor Ananya Jahanara Kabir. While proponents of Zionism consider Israel to be the homeland of Jewish people, Indian nationalists consider Kashmir to be a distant frontier land, ripe with economic opportunity but populated by“disruptive” natives that must be disciplined by patriotic soldiers. Similarly comparable to this “civilizing mission” is American westward expansion in the 1800s, which settlers viewed as the conquering of a rugged, majestic frontier from“savage” Native Americans.
Across the Continent: "Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way" (1868) by Fanny Palmer.
Photo Credit: National Gallery of Art / CC0 1.0
One of the most palpable legacies of this mindset is Hawaii, a state that is essential to the mainland United States but still viewed as a refuge of desire, similar to Kashmir. The largest contributors to the Hawaiian economy are tourism and the military, both of which demonstrate American interest in the land and people, yet also blur the lines between Native Hawaiian voices and American imperialism. For example, many Americans consider remembrance of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor as a “national imperative,” after thousands of U.S. personnel were killed. While this event deserves reflection, Pearl Harbor cannot be construed as a bastion of nonpartisan patriotism.
In the late 1800s, sugar planters considered Pearl Harbor to be the gateway to Pacific markets, contributing to the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the subsequent 1898 annexation of Hawaii to the United States. Native Hawaiians generally view the overthrow and annexation as more pivotal to their history than the 1941 attack, yet these events do not share the same status in American consciousness. Perhaps Aug. 5, 2019, the date of the revocation of Article 370, will find a similar fate, representing a turning point in Kashmiri freedom, yet obscured by the national government’s claims of subduing separatism.
The complexity of military presence in Hawaii and Kashmir fascinates academics and activists, yet tourists would most likely avoid this discussion to preserve their “territory of desire” viewpoint. Perhaps one of the most disturbing tactics to encourage this attitude is the “prostitution of culture” by “pimps” that fantasize these places. Tourists to the Hawaiian Islands are bombarded by images of fair-skinned, scantily-clad hula girls, reducing the identity of Native Hawaiians to a racially biased object of desire. Not only does this marketing promote stereotyping and objectification, but alsoencourages men to “embrace” this sexualized image through migration. Similarly, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, described Kashmir as a “supremely beautiful woman, whose beauty is almost impersonal and above human desire.” More recently, state legislator Vikram Singh Saini of the BJP distastefully encouraged men to purchase land and marry “light-skinned Kashmiri girls” after the removal of Article 370.
Growing tourism to Kashmir, often treated as just an economic boost, should also be seen as a political and cultural shift. To preserve an image of enjoyment, tourist locations are displayed as refuges for “mainlanders”, silencing the experiences of those who consider those places their homeland. Tourism and militarization go hand in hand, providing tourists with a sense of security and patriotism while reminding locals of their place as a colonized nation. No place can be called “Paradise on Earth” so long as oppression is allowed to spread, no matter how beautiful the mountains, gardens, and lakes may be. An industry based on deception is bound to deteriorate; thus, successful tourism lies in the acknowledgment ofmilitary occupation and the abandonment of overly patriotic and sexualized motivation.
