Islamic Paradise wants more tourists to view Hindu art treasures .
Mo
most glorious culture ever known to humankind . What has non existent
Allah ever invented except the Burqa and Jihad and oppression of the
delicate sex?
India should end visa rules for all Western countries . It can
always detain suspects at airports. 99% of tourists do not want to
view historical sites etc. they just want to dip in the swimming pool
and lie in the sun for a week and shop within the complex and South
Asia with its cheap labor force should get at least 100m a year as
China does..
Targeting minorities, again
ALLEGED desecration of holy scriptures is a convenient excuse used by
unscrupulous elements to target minorities in the country. This
monster has reared its ugly head now in the remote Baloch town of
Dalbandin, some 350 kilometres from Quetta. According to reports, a
temple and several houses and shops owned by the Hindus were razed to
the ground by a large mob. This happened after someone alleged that
the Hindus had distributed sweets among themselves using paper from a
textbook containing religious verses. According to this newspaper's
correspondent, the sweets were distributed by an illiterate housewife
(in any case the literacy rate for women in rural Balochistan is very
low
However, such matters probably do not interest the police who took
some Hindu men into custody instead of arresting the arsonists. The
security of the town has now been handed over to the Frontier
Constabulary. All of this does not augur well for the country's image.
A UN agency and more recently the US have both expressed concern over
the government's handling of the blasphemy law which according to them
is being enforced particularly severely. Hopefully, the government
will try to investigate the real motive for the arson, as in many
cases allegations/ accusations of desecration are used to settle
scores with minority communities or simply to take over their land.
This has happened before in Punjab with the Christian community and in
Sindh with the Hindus. It probably will happen again with the growing
intolerance society is experiencing, until firm steps are taken.
Pakistan eases entry rules for tourists, investors
ISLAMABAD, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Pakistan is to radically relax visa
requirements from Monday to help attract investment and tourists, but
the new rules will exclude Indians, Pakistan"s military-led government
said on Friday. The so-called negative list, or countries excluded
from the relaxation, will also include Israel, Bangladesh, Algeria,
Bhutan, Libya, Sudan and Yemen. "All tourists, except nationals of
countries on the negative list, will be issued 30-day landing permits
at airports and other entry points on arrival," Interior Minister
Moinuddin Haider said at a news conference. The 44 countries for which
business visa rules have been relaxed include the United States,
Britain, Australia, Canada, China, Iran, France, Germany, Ireland,
Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sweden, Hong Kong and
Singapore. The minister said to help tourism in the northern areas,
which attract mountaineers and trekkers from around the world,
district administrators would extend visas and also issue re-entry
passes if people want to visit neighbouring China. Pakistani missions
have also been authorised to issue three-year, multiple-entry business
visas for residents of the 44 countries, up from the current one year.
Tour operators in Pakistan have been asking the government to relax
the visa rules in order to promote the country"s small tourism
industry, mostly based on the mountainous north. Pakistan is also not
very prominent on investment maps, attracting about $500 million of
foreign direct investment a year.
Northern areas rich in Gandhara art
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Oct 12: An Italian archaeologist, Dr Anna Filigenzi, has said
that the Northern areas of Pakistan have a rich treasures of the
Ghandhara Civilization which need to be explored extensively.
Delivering a talk on "Important Aspects of the Ghandhara Art", she
said though many sites had been excavated, there were still many which
could be explored to find out the missing links in history and
culture.
The lecture was organized by the Mohatta Palace Museum where an
exhibition "Visions of divinity: the art of Ghandhara" is being held.
The treasures of the Ghandhara Civilization were on display around the
hall where the lecture was held.
The audience listened to the speaker spellbound. The presence of the
artifacts created a perfect atmosphere for a though-provoking talk
which was richly aided by the speaker's findings made during her stay
in Pakistan.
She said earlier archaeology meant just collecting pieces of ancient
art and culture, but now archaeologists have to do extensive research
to find out the missing links in history to understand the life-style,
culture, history of the people living at a particular period of time.
The archeologist, who is in the country for the sixth time since she
came here in the mid-80s, showed a large number of slides of various
pieces of sculptures recovered from different sites in the Northern
Areas.
She said a majority of the sculptures replicate different scenes from
the life of Buddha.
Dr Filigenzi, who is associated with the Italian Archaeological
Mission, and has been working in the Northern Areas for past many
years, said Saidu Sharif in Swat was probably one of the most sacred
places of the Ghandhara Civilization in the areas having a stupa,
monastery and a school of art. She said there were plans to
reconstruct the stupa.
She also highlighted the importance of the Butkara, Mangora and many
other sites and said work was in the progress.
She said evidence had shown that people at time first made smaller
models of sculptures and later recreated them on a large scale to
minimize the cost and losses.
Responding to a question that the statues of Buddha found in the
Subcontinent and those found in the Far-East were totally different
(as the Sub-continental Buddha had local features and was a thin
person while the Far-Eastern one had Central Asian features like
Chinese or Japanese and was a fat person), she said that a few basic
features were kept common in all these statues while a majority of
other features had been localized and adopted from the area.
The Italian expert said though many styles of sculpture of Buddha had
been adopted, the research, so far done, had shown that the Indian
style was the most ancient one.
Earlier, Curator of the museum, Nasreen Askari, also spoke.
fpost
The land of high adventure
Pakhre Alam Misal Khan
Updated on 10/13/2000 10:26:36 AM
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Human have always had a desire to travel, to visit an exotic areas,
toencounter different culture, peaks and to explore the bounties of
God.
However, the concept of leisure has assumed increasing importance in
the lives of many western and modern societies during the last
century.
It emphasis on the indulgence in an activity that “comforts of
consoles” and is related it enjoyment and recreation.
Mass travel and tourism is relatively recent development.
In early ages, only rich and powerful people travelled while ordinary
people stayed at home.
The little free time people enjoyed was normally connected with
religious festivals or “holy days” and from here we get the word
holiday.
In later centuries, rich people travelled for health reasons and
visited through health pass, where the water for drinking & bathing,
together with a change of climate was considered fruitful.
The common people, however, rarely moved outside the confines of their
village or town, as they lacked the four essentials of time transport,
money & motivation.
Moreover, some people had travelled on govt basis or on business basis
such as during Colonial Services but it was with the coming of the
“Industrial Revolution” in Europe & in North America that the life
standard were improved gradually with arrival of steam engine in 19th
century.
Hence, travelling become cheaper & foster.
However, holiday making for ordinary people was still very limited
even up to the middle of the 20th century.
In this century people are mostly travelled through steam train &
choose destination such as sea side or beach or mountain to enjoy the
new experiences.It was really after the end of the 2nd World War that
travel & tourism make their mark & began to accelerate.
In this era the motion pictures & TV inject to travel that touristic
spot or adventure destination which are focused on TV screen.
With development of cars, railways, Steamships & aeroplane, travelling
is becoming more advanced.
When some enterprising people saw this high potential of tourism’ they
created the concept of “Package Tour” & from here the inexperienced
tourists specially the hikers, mountaineers & adventurers enjoys their
tours without any fear.
Moreover, in recent times, improvements in aircraft technology many
location and high adventure destination can be reached in matter of
hours.
This had led to a dramatic growth in international tourism
particularly in adventure tourism.
Adventure-oriented travel is a growing segment of the special interest
tourist market.
Since late 1970, there has a rapid growth of magazines, journals
equipment manufacturing, retailer & commercial operators attached with
adventure tourism throughout the Western world.
Like North America, in the Asian-subcontinent world highest peaks
Mount Everest, K-2 & Nanga Parbath are challenges the world
adventurers.
Adventure tourism is in an activity of a broad spectrum of out door
touristic activities, often commercialed & involving an interaction
with natural environment away from the participants home range &
containing the element of risk.
Backing, hiking, tracking, mountaineering, skiing, diving, hunting,
sky diving & bicycle diving etc are the main adventure touristic
activities which offered by Pakistan to the world tourists.
Pakistan is a unique land.
It situated in the heart of South Asia.
It is the country with rich culture; fascinating to his own rights.
It is the home of one of the earliest human settlement & the greatest
pre-historic Indus Valley Civilization.
It is the country where mountains meet.
Northern Areas of Pakistan & NWFP are the points where the mighty
ranges of Karakoram, Himalayas & Hindukush meets & challenges the
adventurers to explore and discover us.
No where in the world there is a great numbers of mountains, glaciers,
peaks & passes on earth except Pakistan.
Of the 14 over 8000 peaks on earth are found in Northern Area of
Pakistan.
These are the K-2 (8611m) the second highest mountain of the world,
Broad Peak (8047m), Gasherbum 1 & 11 (8068 & 8035m) & Nanga Parbat
(8126m) the “killer mountain” at the Western most end of Himalayas are
the big challenges for the mountaineers & adventurers.
The Northern Pakistan has the “longest glaciers” out side Polar
region; Siachen (72 km), Hispar (61 km) & Biafo & Baltore (60 km).
Moreover, the lower Himalayan Valleys of Swat, Kaghan & Chitral in
Hindukush ranges in NWFP equally share the beauty & high prospects of
adventure tourism in Pakistan.
All this shows that PAKISTAN IS THE LAND OF HIGH ADVENTURE.
In addition to this, tourism adventure has enhanced due to recent
opening of the Central Asian States which will serve as a major entry
point for tourists.
The Karakoram Highway which in fact is the rebuilt Silk route is
providing a new approache for adventurers.
The cities of Pakistan offers spectacular scenic beauty & high
potential in adventure possibilities & challenges to the adventurers
to discover Pakistan.
Among these are Hunza, Gilgit, Chillas, Skardu, Upper Swat & Dir,
Chitral, Kaghan Valley, Khyber Pass, & Ladakh.
Tourism is progressing all over the world with a very fast speed as
one of the leading industry & foreign exchange earner and the present
century is being dubbed as the “Century of Tourism”.
Potential scenic resorts and picturesque valleys are being explored
with the passage of each day in order to attract world tourists.
Pakistan is among one of the same countries of the world which is
bestowed with God gifted natural wealth in abundance which needed to
be exploited on sound footings to attract foreign reserves for the
country.
Pakistan is home to world’s top mountain ranges, valleys, scenic spots
and glaciers which were visited by tourists both local and foreign
every year in large number.
The governments in Pakistan has felt importance of exploring this
neglected sector and efforts are afoot to chalk out comprehensive
tourism policy, aimed at promoting country’s hidden wealth besides
making it tourists’ friendly.
However, the magnitude of tourists flow, both domestic & international
tourism in Pakistan testifies that the chances of adventure tourism is
better than other types of tourism i.e culture, sports, Heritage, and
archaeological tourism.
In the Asian subcontinent, India, Nepal,and China are earning a lot of
foreign exchange from adventure tourism while Pakistan which is very
rich in this respect is very low.
In Uttar Pardesh (UP) Indian hills destination contribute RS.3 to 3.5
billions annually in the state economy, for Nepal, mountain tourism
contributed 30% & 4.8% of GDP while China earned RS.
7,947 million US Dollar in 1999.
Keeping an observation on the said data, Pakistan part is very
shakeable.
Pakistan earns only 140 millions US Dollar in 1999 which is very low
compare to their neighbours.
For the countries such is China, India & Pakistan, domestic tourism is
overwhelming.
In China the volume of domestic tourists exceed to 400 million while
India the UP hills attracted 3.5% domestic.
While in NWFP and Northern Area of Pakistan 85 to 90 % of the total
tourists flow was domestic in the same year.
It is estimated that mountain tourism involves about 1/3 of the total
flow of foreign tourist (752,000) are in 1999 in Pakistan.
Mubarik Jan in a Special Supplement published in the Daily Pakistan
Islamabad on May 26, 1998 in his article “Tourism in Northern Area”
has said that Pakistan earned foreign exchange for mountaineering
tourism in 1993 was 177500 dollar in 1994 (40,7216 dollar), in 1995
Pakistan has earned 389715 dollar, in 1996-97 (40,1900 dollar)
(53,1200 dollar) respectively from tracking in 1993 Pakistan has
earned foreign exchange 21800 dollar, 1996 (18880) dollar and in 1997,
24560 dollar.
Tourism has a special significance for developing countries which
posses attraction for the tourists.Tourism rank 6th as a foreign
exchange earners.
Tourism sector in Pakistan specially adventure tourism needs to be
projected more but is our national tourism policy took few initiatives
to attract foreign as well as domestic tourists to Pakistan to explore
the mountains peaks, glaciers, deserts etc to earn foreign exchange
but is not succeeded so far.
To promote adventure tourism & to attract the foreign tourists to
Pakistan these measures is to be consider.
RESULTS Due to this high mountains wealth, it still lacks of market
skills.
Due to the insufficient supply of goods, capital and monetary funds,
the status of industry has failed to attract investors.
There is a complete lack of awareness that Pakistan is one of the
ideal adventure tourist destination.
Another most serious disadvantage for Pakistan’s is the lack of
competition with neighbour (India and Nepal).
Nepal is the biggest threat to Pakistan because the world largest
peaks “Mount Everest” are in Nepal and foreign tourists are most keen
to climbed this world highest peak.
In 1995/96 Pakistan has only able to attract 7.9 percent of the
tourist compare with Nepal which attract 15.75 percent in the same
year.
There is no co-ordination between the government departments to
publicized and co-operate with PTDC to promote adventure tourism
specially and tourism overall particularly on the foreign countries
through embassies.
In Pakistan due to the soil erosion and deforestation mountaineering
is not showing any attraction.
The deep rooted poverty, direness and rapidly changing environment in
the Hindu Kush-Himalayas called for new approaches to devoted a
sustainable livelihood system which attract hiker, mountaineers and
trackers.
The Tourism Departments & PTDC should launched a campaign with the
help of mass media (TV & Radio) to project & highlighted these
mountains wealth for the international tourists lovers.
The Private sector & NGO,s come forward to educate the domestic people
in the mountains affected areas to avoid environmental pollution.
The rules & regulations to be enforce upon the mountaineers & trackers
to ensure the preservation of local environment by visiting
expeditions.
The Federal assistance is required to promote tourism in Pakistan in
general and adventure tourism particular.
So in short, keeping all these richness in the “Land of high
adventure” Dr. Muhammad Iqbal said : “Let not the sorry plight of the
garden upset the gardener soon buds will sprout on the branches and
like stars glitters weeds and brambles will be swept out of the garden
with a broom and where martyr’s blood was sheared roses shall bloom
look, how russet leaves tinged the eastern skies the horizon heralds
the birth of a new sun about to rise”.
jand...@postoffice.swbell.net
By starting out your article with the word "moron" you don't exactly
appear unbiased. I am interested in your opinions, but gave up reading
rather quickly.
As a writer, you can't get your points of view accross unless you can
hold the readers attention long enough for them to hear what you have to
say.
If you would tone down the vitriol a little bit, I might stick with you
article long enough to give your message a fair reading.
Xephyr
passes judgments, and it speaks for itself as to how much importance Mo's
words should be given. its not just having a brain that works, but having an
unprejudiced brain.
<jand...@postoffice.swbell.net> wrote in message
news:39E77CF1...@postoffice.swbell.net...
David Starr
"Xephyr" <xep...@softhome.net> wrote:
> Mo doesn't give opinions which he/she would like others to
contemplate. Mo
> passes judgments, and it speaks for itself as to how much importance
Mo's
> words should be given. its not just having a brain that works, but
having an
> unprejudiced brain.
Mo knows.
Dave
--
Islam is a gutter religion based on dumbass arab culture.
Its founder Mohammed was a low life son of a bitch and a
mad lunatic.
I piss on Mohammed (pig shit be upon him), Allah (pig shit
be upon him) and Quran (dumbass arabic crap) everyday.
ISLAM stands for the following:
[I] = Incest
[S] = Sodomy
[L] = Looting
[A] = Asslifting
[M] = Murder
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Xephyr
David Starr <sdiva...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:8s9ugv$nh5$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
> In article <8s9q71$4f...@news.emirates.net.ae>,
> "Xephyr" <xep...@softhome.net> wrote:
> > Mo doesn't give opinions which he/she would like others to
> contemplate. Mo
> > passes judgments, and it speaks for itself as to how much importance
> Mo's
> > words should be given. its not just having a brain that works, but
> having an
> > unprejudiced brain.
>