FOR a watching world, Europe's foreign and security policy operations are the only serious show in town. Javier Solana, the EU's hardworking chief diplomat, may not always make the headlines or secure the airtime devoted to other Brussels-based movers and shakers but make no mistake: the 64-year old former Nato secretary-general turned chief EU trouble-shooter is doing more to enhance Europe's global clout and reputation than most high-flying members of the soon-to-be 27-strong European Commission.

For many in the US, Russia, China and the Middle East, Solana is quite simply Mr Europe. True, the affable Solana isn't always ready with the perfect sound-byte for quote-hungry hacks. And he often has to share the spotlight with self-satisfied national foreign ministers, EU presidency representatives and the omnipresent Commission. But as any foreign diplomat worth his salt in Brussels knows, building stronger political ties with the EU means working closely with the indefatigable Solana.

That's not to say that the commission has gone into hibernation or that the European parliament has fallen suddenly silent.

Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso is still responsible for the day-to-day running of the EU. Critics may complain that he is uninspiring and lacks vision but Barroso is the one with his fingers firmly wrapped around Europe's purse strings.

Reporters covering the EU are also told every day by EU spin doctors that members of Barroso's team are achieving important goals including the fashioning of a new energy policy for Europe, negotiating textile and footwear quotas and sending development aid to poor nations.

There's plenty more happening at the Commission's Berlaymont headquarters. Commissioners are busy cutting red tape, breaking down internal trade barriers and dismantling energy monopolies. Those worried about the state of Europe's languages can now rest easy because there will also soon be a commissioner for multilingualism, a post to be occupied as of January next year by Leonard Orban, Romania's first-ever member of the EU executive.

The EU parliament is also becoming increasingly important. Its debates may not set our pulses racing but for many the assembly is a perfect forum to vent anger on human rights abuses and complain about wasteful EU spending. It is also heartening to know that Euro MPs can race around the world - not to mention running from Brussels to Strasbourg every month - and still make sense on issues as diverse as carbon dioxide emissions and Turkey's (slim) chances of over joining the Union.

These myriad and fascinating manifestations of Europe may keep bureaucrats and journalists busy, but in an increasingly tense, crisis-a-minute world, its political clout that counts.

Not surprisingly therefore, global attention has turned to the EU's slow but steady emergence as an active security and foreign policy actor. European troops are being projected internationally and EU soldiers and officials are increasingly involved in crisis prevention, peacekeeping and conflict management operations.

Once active only in the Balkans, the EU is now being asked to send military missions to Africa, Asia and the Middle East. US policymakers, who used to be wary of Europe's defence ambitions, now recognise the importance of having the EU on board as a security player. More and more also, the US and other nations are turning to the EU for help in combating terrorism and preventing nuclear proliferation, whether in Iran or in North Korea.

Solana's rise as the man in charge of common European defence and foreign policy is not surprising, therefore. Nor are reports that the once-tireless Solana is now battling job-fatigue and losing patience with the inter-institutional in-fighting that continues to hobble Europe's efforts to build a stronger international standing.

Speculation that Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt may be interested in the job is doing the rounds in Brussels. But Solana's aides insist there is no truth in rumours that their boss wants out after seven years as Europe's global trouble-shooter.

Just as well. Europe's reputation has taken a blow following the failure of the EU constitution and the current political paralysis due to upcoming elections in France. Fragile coalition governments in Germany and Italy have also reinforced the image of a Europe beset by pessimism and doubt. Any hasty departure by Solana therefore would close the curtain on the EU's only real class act.

IT IS an uphill task as it is trying to replace terrorism with tourism in Pakistan without our national airline making matters worse.

Instead of pulling up its socks and expanding its services and thus bring in more tourists, PIA has had to cut back on its local and international flights in big ways recently because of aircraft safety problems.

Last week, it was reported that PIA had to suspend its Boeing 747 flight operations to Europe, the US and Canada because it had been unable to meet new safety standards set by western aviation agencies. The grounding reportedly resulted in the cancellation of many PIA routine flights to the West and the re-routing of many others.

A few months ago in July this year, PIA had already been asked to ground all its Fokker planes after a Fokker flight crashed near Multan which killed all 42 people on board. This move obviously had repercussions for tourism in the northern region since most flights serving this area were run by Fokker planes.

We certainly don’t need PIA to complicate our tourism promotion effort. As it is, no matter how hard we try — what with the futuristic Centaurus and new airport projects in Islamabad and the uplift of many recreational and historical sites in and around the capital city, plus a rejuvenated federal ministry of tourism overseeing a ‘Visit Pakistan Year’ campaign and an ambitious Pakistan Image Project to boost our global image — we can never quite hope to become a sedate tourist destination a la Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong or Dubai.

And we have only ourselves to blame for this because we have the uncanny knack of confirming willy nilly through our own actions the general view outside Pakistan that our country is one of the world’s most dangerous destinations for tourism.

Take for instance, last week’s military strike against supposed religious militants in Bajaur Agency which killed some 82 people in one stroke. Whatever the facts about the incident, it fabulously served to remind the whole world that five years on after we first agreed to go along with the US in the war against terror, we are still very much hosts to ‘terrorists’.

Another instance is our leaders’ public statements which often portray our country as one infested with extremists and terrorists, including the elusive Osama Bin Laden. Even the title and contents of our president’s internationally acclaimed best- selling memoir, In the Line of Fire, evoke images of terrorism and danger in our land.

Little wonder that Pakistan is on Forbes annual list of the World’s Most Dangerous Destinations.

In the Forbes’s list, Pakistan has been listed in the second- most risky category together with Burundi, Papua New Guinea and Russia (Chechnya), while nine other countries — Afghanistan, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Liberia, Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe — were listed in the most risky category. Georgia was the only country in the third-most risky category.

According to the Forbes’s assessment of Pakistan, there is “extreme security and travel threat in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan” and “high terrorist risk in Islamabad”. We were also in the magazine’s lists of the World’s Most Dangerous Destinations in 2004 and in 2003 when the list was first published.

We are also one of the 38 countries, including the US, described in Robert Young Pelton’s book The Worlds Most Dangerous Places.

Pelton’s justification for including Pakistan in his book include the fact that “it has had some of the worst political violence of any regional country that is not in the middle of a declared war”.

This violence he attributes to a host of players, which include fierce warring tribes and squabbling minorities, as well as to cheap weapons and heroin which have fostered a gun culture and a drug addiction rate that equals the US.

However, Pelton did give us credit where it was due. He described Pakistan as the “classic adventurer’s paradise” because of its wild and spectacular mountainous scenery in the north, which attracts “planeloads of trekkers, hippies and hardcore mountain climbers”. He said poverty and violence aside, Pakistan remains a country that “tops the list of any adventurer”.

So apart from encouraging tourism by Buddhist monks, of whom a delegation from Japan arrived in Islamabad last week met by the federal minister for tourism, we ought also to focus on attracting adventure travellers whose quests for higher mountains to climb, fiercer rivers to raft and wilder trails to hike would naturally attract them to Pakistan’s north.

But as much as the government is apparently trying to encourage tourism, Pakistanis who deal with these tourists seem to be doing their level best to drive them away!

Take for example the incident reported last week in which 150 Chinese Haj pilgrims stranded in the capital were swindled of Rs3 million by two men who promised to get them the Haj visas but disappeared after collecting the money from them. This is a foolproof method of ensuring that in future no Chinese pilgrims ever dare to attempt to go for Haj via Pakistan!

The above incident only confirms Pelton’s observations about crime in Pakistan in his book. What happened to the 150 Chinese pilgrims falls perfectly into the first level of crime described by Pelton: “The first (level of crime) is the friendly constant pressure to relieve the unwitting of their possessions. Just as the wind and rain can erode granite mountains, the traveller to Pakistan will find his money slowly slipping from him. Perhaps this is not a crime, since the victim is consensual, but it nevertheless is not an honest transfer of funds”.

We had better buck up in all spheres of tourism encouragement, including bettering PIA’s performance, improving tourist facilities in the north and fore warning tourists who arrive here about potential swindlers, because we are not the only country in this region trying to replace terrorism with tourism.

Afghanistan is reportedly planning to turn its infamous Tora Bora caves, where Osama Bin Laden reportedly hid when the Americans drove the Taliban out of Kabul in December 2001, into a Rs610 million holiday resort with luxurious hotels and restaurants, and an adventure-filled cave trek to boot!

It would be a shame if Afghanistan eventually succeeds in beating us in attracting more tourists, especially if we fail to shed our terrorism image!