Summer retreat: In Neelam Valley, guest houses brimming with activity

Approximate 0.5m tourists visited Neelam Valley last year including PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif.

MUZAFFARABAD:

As mercury rises, hundreds of tourists are thronging the scenic Neelam Valley of Azad Kashmir. The hotels and guest houses are brimming with visitors who have come to enjoy the picturesque valley.

Located over 4,000 metres above sea level, the valley has become a popular picnic spot over the last decade. Stepping into Pataka, the gateway of the valley, the visitors enjoy green mountains with dense forests on both sides of Neelum River.

According to locals, more than 0.5 million tourists visited the valley last year, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif. He spent two days at Towbutt, the last helmet of Azad Kashmir near the Line of Control (LoC). “We are hopeful that this season the number of tourists will increase to one million. All our guest houses and resorts are full for two weeks,” said Khawaja Muhammad Awais, owner of a private guest house in the valley.

According to the local businessmen of Athmuqam, the boom in tourism across the valley is a good sign for the local economy that suffered a lot during the 1990 to 2000 when the Indian troops were spraying bullets to hit the area near the LoC.



“The road from Muzaffarabad to Athmuqam, the district headquarters of Neelum Valley, is good but onwards to Lower Neelum, Keran, Upper Neelum, Dawarrian, Sharda, Kel and Towbutt needs to be reconstructed to ensure safe travel,” said Mahnoor Akhter, a doctor from Lahore, who recently returned from a week-long vacation in the valley.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2013.