ISLAMABAD: President Z.A. Bhutto said here today [May 28] that the number of tourists was likely to accelerate with the attractive promotional campaign launched by the Government. He was inaugurating the National Tourism Council. …

The President said that despite the upheaval of 1971, as many as one lakh foreign tourists visited Pakistan in 1972, and in the current year more than 37,000 tourists had already come… . He said he was deeply disturbed by reports about the inconvenience caused to the tourists by the Customs Department, and on other occasions by the Immigration, Police and the Excise Departments. He said: “We are fully conscious of the requirements of security when we decided to open up the northern areas to the tourist traffic. In this day and age, to keep thousands of square miles of a country’s territory of unparalleled scenic beauty … closed to tourist traffic for vague … notions of security appeared to our Government both strange and unfortunate.”

Mr Bhutto took note of the observations made by an international committee declaring Karachi as the dirtiest city of the world. He remarked: “and now when Karachi has been declared the dirtiest city … it will bec­o­me a haven for the tourists”. — News agencies

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2023