India hosted a tourism summit to show Kashmir is peaceful. Residents call it a ‘facade’

While a G20 tourism summit unfolded this week on the banks of Srinagar’s picturesque Dal Lake in the heart of the Kashmir Valley, army commandos patrolled the area and police officers with machine guns stood watch at most street corners. The tight security in Jammu and Kashmir, already one of the world’s most heavily militarized zones, was meant to ensure the working group meeting, hosted by India and attended by delegates from 27 countries, went smoothly. It’s the first high-level international meeting of its kind to be held in Kashmir since the government revoked the Muslim-majority region’s special status and…