Daily Times

Barry buzan and his books were all about security. He is famous for his theories of securitisation but actually his biggest contribution through his publications is to establish a link between the security and the logic of anarchy. The logic of anarchy is the key to study the security in its multifaceted forms. All anarchies therefore generate insecurities. Pakistan as a country is facing many challenges of which economic insecurity is the most gigantic rock in the gorge. All around the economic orbit of the state there are black swans and the grey rhinos. Pretty tough turf to tango isn’t it. Industry, agriculture, skilled labour, raw material, infrastructure, human resource, services, minerals, geography and climate are all the drivers of economy. Off shore venture to grab Pakistan’s share of freedom molecules (oil and gas exploration) has just stalled, hopefully for the time being. Tourism is another driver for a country having three highest mountain ranges in the world, lofty peaks, beautiful vales, unique deserts, hospitable people, well spread out shores, awe inspiring fauna and flora all along and a supportive climate. Switzerland, Canada, turkey, Australia, and Central Asia are earning billions through the same. Interestingly, Russia has converted one of the most embarrassing events in human history into a source of immense earning. This year thousands of tourist visited the town of Chernobyl, where they had a guided tour, atomic tourism if one may call it. Pakistan is naturally bestowed with a much more share of natural beauty than any other country in the world. The economic vows of the country can be addressed through the encouragement of tourism by the state , how, just doing two things, one, improving the road infra structures and second, developing the mining industry in all of these far flung heavens where minerals and gems are in abundance. When the far flung mountains, the perched up hill top villages and the raging rivers beckoned me, I bode adieu to my chores and moved where lush green mountains were ready to take me in. This was Neelam the breath taking blue sapphire valley of 245 kilometres all along the river neelam . Muzzaferabad is the jump off point of this paradise on earth. Nusari, Jora, kundal shahi, kuttan, athmuqam, Karen, dowarian, sharda, kel, arangkel, shounter and taobat are the land mark places of this 245 km journey. Neelam originates from krishansar lake in Indian Kashmir, and is known there as kishanganga. It is another holy waters for Hindus. Hinduism in its worldly manifestation is all about water, the rivers. Every river of Himalayas is sacred for them. Those who were negotiating Indus basin treaty from Pakistani side in 60s were probably not much conversant with Hindu mythology of river worship and their sacred places at the originating points of rivers which eventually become part of Pakistan’s natural endowment of these water bodies. Kishanganga or the Neelam is also now the endangered species due to the beastly bets of saffronic rise in the neighbourhood. 22 km tunnel is now ready to take Neelam inside India for a big swallow. India started this tunnel in 2007 and when Pakistan raised objections it promised to commit 9 cusecs of water flow in the river and also lowering the heights of the head from 98 meters to 37 meters. It declared it as the run of the river project. Modi has commissioned the project and India has already back tracked on all the three promises, for run of the river the tunnel is the nemeses, and for height of structure and minimum flow they are just mum. Water politics can be seen flowing along the river Neelam, loudly chanting the slogans that, too little, too late are done to safe this blue sapphire of Pakistan. Lesson, next time Pakistani Indus water commissioner should take a primer in Hindu mythology first before even acquiring expertise in water diplomacy. Neelam is the land of forests, enchanting rivers, fountains, springs, waterfalls, highlands, snowy peaks, minerals, wildlife, gems and rare species of plants. We met a Japanese trekker at ratti gali, who said, there is God on the mountains, once he was told the God is everywhere, he replied, yes but I have to take my steps and that is why I am here. A powerful spiritual encounter, indeed. Sharda is another mesmerising place; there is an ancient Hindu temple and one of the oldest university in the world, named after the Hindu goddess sarasvati, as per Hindu mythology, the goddess of learning, wisdom, music and aesthetics. Ironically you come across a lot of natural music, beauty and aesthetics at every place in sharda, kel and arrangkel. Arrang kel is land of speaking trees, more beautiful than Switzerland and where even the silence speaks. There we also met a goliath who took a complete truck across river neelam in knocked down form ,(between kel and arrangkel one can only cross river through a cable car as there is no bridge) assembled it and now using it as the only machine and the mechanical relic. There is the folklore that sharda devi had saved the container of knowledge and hid it in a hole somewhere inside the temple at sharda. Recently, there is a growing demand in India to open this religious site on the same lines as that of kirtarpura. The Neelam valley is the treasure trove of gem stones and minerals like ruby, sapphire and tourmaline. The chitta katta mines are known world over for this but unfortunately most of the raw stone is smuggled to india and Thailand where they are cut to become priceless. Same way the rare herb of tripattra is also smuggled to india where it is sold in millions. At taobat a shepherd had shown us the same herb, hidden under the shepherd cloak. There are three, As to improve tourism, one, access to the site,second, presence of attractions and third, suitable amenities, in neelam despite the fact that state remained reluctant to develop these, there is a significant flow of nature watchers who wants to see the breath taking beauty . United Nations hand book of human security identifies different type of securities which every country must try to have for its people. The economic security in the age of populism which is challenging globalism is very important. Neelam is just one area which can transform our economy, there are many still to discover the need is only to figure out the mile stones on the journey, Attmuqam stand witness as the 8th station to road to our economic salvation, there are few more to go.