News Desk
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Secretary Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput has said that the government planned to take scores of initiatives to preserve and promote cultural and heritage sites with a view to attracting foreign tourists from all around the world in Sindh.
He said that Sindh is home to significant Hindu and Budhist religious sites. The government is making all-out efforts to preserve, safeguard these sites and identify more such places with a view to attracting more tourists from Budhist-majority countries to Pakistan.
He focused on the Gandhara civilization and said this while chairing an important meeting held at the Sindh Secretariat on Monday. The meeting was attended by Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Gandhara Task Force, secretary commissioner Karachi, additional Inspector General of Police (IGP) Karachi Javed Alam Odho, Secretary Culture Abdul Aleem Lashari, Sindh Culture Director General Manzoor Ahmed Kanasro, and all divisional commissioners who participated in the meeting via a video link.
During the meeting, Secretary Culture Abdul Aleem Lashari briefed the participants while stating that there are 369 cultural sites in Sindh, including temples and stupas of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, which still attract a significant number of visitors.
Dr Ramesh Kumar highlighted efforts which would be made to preserve historical artifacts and heritage sites associated with the Gandhara civilization.
He also stressed need for discovering additional locations to promote religious tourism within the country.
“This way, Pakistan will gain importance in the eyes of foreign tourists, especially Buddhists, and the country will get economic benefits from this initiative,” he said.
He further mentioned that he has conducted tours of various cultural sites with foreign ambassadors in different regions of the country and will soon visit Gandhara civilization sites, including stupas and temples in various cities of Sindh.
When it comes to tourism, the first three-day international conference is scheduled to be held from July 11 to 13 aimed at attracting tourists from all around the world, he said.
“The task force aims to bring up to 500,000 tourists to Pakistan, which will greatly benefit the country on a large scale,” he said.
The meeting concluded with a decision that the Sindh Culture Department would present a report to the Prime Minister’s Gandhara Task Force regarding the province’s religious sites, existing religious temples, and stupas.
Afterward, the Task Force will pay visits to these sites in collaboration with the ambassadors of various countries to promote tourism in the province.
Meanwhile, Sindh Culture Director General Manzoor Ahmed Kanasro is already knuckling down to some serious work to preserve and promote both all cultural and heritage sites throughout the province. He keeps taking initiatives and issuing directives to official concerned. Recently, the mammoth flood which transformed entire Sindh last year cause damages to such sites including Moenjo Daro, Makli necropolis and other historical places existing in the interior of Sindh, he immediately took notice and sent special teams to analyse conditions of the sites and initiate renovation and rehabilitation work without any further delay with a view to preserving such places. A large number of foreign tourists who belong to various religions are infatuated with these places of olden days and visit them every year.
Good work! keep it up