February 07, 2007	Wednesday	Muharram 18, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 6: The government has decided to set up a tourism task force for the convenience of tourists, as they often complain against police’s interfering attitude.

Talking to mediapersons on Tuesday, Federal Minister for Tourism Nilofar Bakhtiar said a proposal in this regard was under consideration with the interior division.

The tourism task force personnel will be trained exclusively for tourists to provide them security and assistance, “which I believe will go a long way to allay the feeling of insecurity which some tourists carry with them,” the minister said.

Security is more or less the same all over the world. If some terrorist activity happens in a country it does not mean that the entire country is unsafe, the minister said in reply to a question, adding, “yes it’s our responsibility to provide security to tourists and the ministry takes it very seriously.”

In response to another question, the minister, who signed a memorandum of understanding with a cellular company for the promotion of tourism, said the government was taking every possible measure to give a a kick-start to the tourism industry.

The prime minister has set the tourism ministry a target of one million foreign tourists during the year. “We are hoping to meet this target,” she said.

Pakistan is celebrating 2007 as “Visit Pakistan Year” and has worked out a calendar of events.