GULMARG: Deep in the snow-capped, forested mountains of Kashmir, Indian and French workers are building a cable car hoping to lure skiers from around the world to sample pistes within range of Pakistani artillery.

For many in the area, the ambitious project is a symbol of hope following a fragile ceasefire between India and Pakistan, which for decades have claimed what is one of the world's most beautiful regions.

Once finished, the cable car system is expected to be one of the world's longest and highest. Its backers hope it will prove a major tourist draw for a Muslim-majority region once called the Switzerland of the East.

"The grass-covered, even slopes here are considered among the best in the world. But the lack of a cable way to reach the top did not allow skiers to use them fully," said Farooq Ahmad Shah, head of the state-run Jammu and Kashmir State Cable Car Corporation.

"We will attract lots of foreign skiers as it will cost a fourth of what it costs to ski in the Alps," he said of the $8 million project, due to be completed by October - in good time for the next skiing season that opens in January.

"Last season, even before the project was completed, we had skiers from Scotland, England and Malaysia," Shah said. His optimism is a far cry from the threat of war that hung over the region in 2002.

Shah is aware of the threat from militants but brims with enthusiasm when he points to dozens of six-seater cars rising from towering pine and coniferous forests. The cable car covers five km, reaching a height of 13,500 ft.

The project has been years in the making. Conceived in the mid-1980s, work on the cable car system, contracted to French firm PomaGlaski, began in 1987. The first leg was almost complete in 1989 when separatists launched their revolt against New Delhi, forcing the contractors to suspend work and return to France.

They were persuaded to come back in 1998 to complete the first section. Work on the second, tougher leg began in June 2003. Gulmarg, a scenic tourist resort about 40 kms east of Srinagar, has never been targeted by the Muslim guerrillas operating in the region, said Shah.

But there are plenty of reminders of the militants' threat. In the town, which is built around a 142-year-old golf course, policemen and soldiers carry semi-automatic weapons, and an anti-aircraft gun stands on the lush lawn of a military school. -Reuters