Does India need a dress code for tourists?

05 July, 2012

While tourists can be asked to dress according to local customs while visiting religious places but enforcing a dress code for them in the whole Kashmir valley is preposterous. This will only shoo away tourists from valley that has already suffered heavy losses in all these years of turmoil.

THE HUGE inflow of tourists would have brought smiles to the faces of thousands of craftsmen, hotel-owners, restaurateurs and state tourism department after three violent summers in Kashmir, however, it is not acceptable to so-called people moral police and a religio-political group Jamat-e-Islami.

The group has issued a dress code advisory for tourists visiting Kashmir. No one be allowed to wear skimpy dress or miniskirts. The statement from the the group said that some tourists; mostly foreigners were seen walking about in objectionable dresses, which are against the local ethos and culture. “Kashmiris cannot give up their godly values for the sake of the economy at any cost,” the statement read. The group has also asked officials of the tourism department to enforce their dress code so that tourists respect the Kashmiri culture.

“It seems Taliban have entered Kashmir, we live in a democratic country and have every right to wear clothes of our choice. Religion does not talk about dress code. It is all man-made propaganda,” said Kratika Nair, a Bangalore resident who is planning to visit Srinagar.

“What these separatists want? Their aim is to destroy mental peace of people only. If they do not like skimpy or tight clothes, they should not see women or restrict themselves indoors, at least for the sake of tourists and the economy,” said Jasica Singh, another Bangalore resident.

Meanwhile, State government is silent on the issue. J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has reportedly instructed the tourism ministry not to comment on this matter.

“I appreciate J&K young CM for bringing peace to the state. He should ignore this issue as it would definitely affect tourism industry and faith of people on his governance system,” said Gandhav Mahajan, an executive from Mumbai.

The valley has been already in the middle of the booming tourism season and become a worrying factor for Himachal Pradesh, which has become a second preference for tourists this time around.

Gautam Das, a trade analyst said: “The people in the valley have very high stakes in trade and nobody associated with it will like to enter in this needless controversy. The separatists have every right to raise their issues but they should also look for people’s source of revenue.”