Gurez is located at a distance of 150 kms from Srinagar, and 85 kms from the nearest major town Bandipora. It is situated at an altitude of 8000 ft above the sea-level, surrounded by the snow clad high Himalayas and the Kishan Ganga (Neelum in Pakistan) river flows through the Valley.
In 1895, the British author Sir Walter Lawrence called the Gurez Valley “one of the most beautiful scenes in all of Kashmir,” where the tourmaline waters of the Kishen Ganga River are framed by “mountain scarps of indescribable grandeur.” In the book he wrote after traveling throughout the princely state, Lawrence predicted that Gurez would soon become one of Kashmir’s most popular Himalayan tourist destinations. For reasons he never could have foreseen, 120 years later, Gurez is still waiting.
As for now Army has been on the forefront in resolving the issues causing hurdles in promoting the beautiful Valley of Gurez. As not a single effort is being missed by the bravehearts of the nation in managing the lives of around 45,000 inhabitants living in Gurez Valley which mostly remains cutoff from the rest of the World due to the harsh winters. The local administration’s negligence is the reason of some issue’s which we chalked out during our visit to Gurez. Here are some of the issues that we encountered with:
• Tourists are curious about socio-cultural history of places. Accurate information in this regard should be disseminated
• All tourists don’t want to rent their space in hotels and restaurants, so their should a scope of home stay in village. This be good for economically lower strata as well.
• There is not a single Mobile toilet on the road from Bandipur to Gurez. Usually vehicles stop near Tragbal, Razdan Top, Khoragbal & Kanzalwan but tourists don’t find the facility of toilet facilities.
• Vegetarian and non-vegetarian food should be taken into consideration consideration. If non – vegetarian menu keeps dozens of cuisines, vegetarian food too should have that.
• Tourists visit different spots like Habba Khatun spring which is not only sacred in Muslims but in Hindus as well. Tourists stay there for hours but don’t have food facility available near by. Locals can provide food facility to tourists there.
• The Habba Khatun spring which springs from the lap of Habba Khatun is not feasiblly accessible. The need of a small path is very much needed. Since Habba Khatun spring is sacred in both Muslims and Hindus. It has a special significance. Habba Khatun peak has a mythological significance in Hindus.
• There should be local inter village coordination to accomodate tourists in homes. This needs some behavioral change.
• There should tourist guide map and pamphlets for better tourism.
• There is a lack of waste management strategy. Dustbins once alive are long dead. Dustbins should be available immediately.
• And last but not the least the street lightning in every village is a big miss in all this.
The historical significance of Gurez is that, Gurez valley was the part of ancient Dardistan, stretching from Sharda Peeth (P.o.K) in the west, Minimarg in the north, Drass the east, and Bagtore-Kanzalwan in the south. The Gurez Valley falls along the section of the ancient Silk Route, which connected the Kashmir Valley with Gilgit. Currently Gurez is a heavily militarized zone as its sits in sight of the Actual Line of control (ALC) between India and Pakistan.
