Ramzan food carnival will boost night shopping in Srinagar

With tourists avoiding Kashmir, the state Culture Ministry has started a novel event: a food festival in Srinagar during Ramzan. The festival will last for all 30 days of the Holy Month, and is meant to boost night shopping and bring some nightlife to Srinagar, which generally shuts down after 8 p.m. during Ramzan.

The Culture Department, along with the Tourism Department, has invited well known food chains from Muslim pockets of the country and given them spaces in Kashmir Haat and other places in Srinagar to serve their delicacies. The food will be available from breaking of fast in the evening to the morning. The government has decided to keep all business establishments open in Srinagar, and markets will be open all the night during this month.

“Holy month of Ramadhan in Kashmir Valley does not look festive and attractive to people, especially youngsters, and we want them to celebrate this month in the markets, enjoying Iftaar and Shehri on the streets like people do in the rest of the country,” said state tourism director Farooq Ahmad Shah.

He added that night markets would be open mainly around religious places like Jamia Masjid Srinagar, Hazratbal shrine and Dastgeer Sahib shrine at Khanyar in downtown Srinagar.

The government is trying hard to boost the economy, which has been badly hit after the September 2014 floods. This latest bid to start nightlife in Srinagar is an attempt to give the business community some hope for the future. Already 30 big business houses of Kashmir have come together to fund free Iftaar tokens for 400 people at Kashmir Haat during the 30-day carnival. Srinagar MP and senior PDP leader Tariq Hameed Karra has called on his party to rethink continuing its coalition with the BJP, describing the latest flood relief package from the Centre as joke. The Centre has released a package of Rs 2,437 cr.

Insiders told this newspaper that Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed is coming under increasing pressure not only from his party cadre, but also from senior leaders including his