ISLAMABAD, Dec 27: Pakistan is as safe as any western country and it has wrongly been projected in the western media that people of the Northern Areas, where most of the country’s tourist spots are located, have become hostile to foreigners.

This was said by Madame Torossian of Austria, who runs about 15 development projects in the recently earthquake-hit Astore Valley.

She termed the on-going media hype as mere propaganda against the peace-loving people of the region, who for centuries had been known for their hospitability.

“I know the area for the last one decade and after the sad incident of 9/11, we were asked not to travel to this part of the subcontinent for security reasons,” she said.

However, our travel to the Northern Areas proved that there was nothing wrong to visit this beautiful region, she said.

“At present, I have come to the area at my own risk, since the Austrian government has advised its nationals not to visit this region, and found people as lively and hospitable as before and there is no harm to visit the country,” she added.

Ms Torossian is running various projects ranging from schools for girl students of the area to water cleaning networks and successfully continuing her endeavours for the welfare of Astore valley, which she claimed were being run through funds, which “I raised from Austrian schools”.

“We didn’t ask the national or international donors for the said projects and it were the young students of Austria through whose contribution the projects are being run,” she said.

She said her present visit was to assess the needs of the Astore valley people, who had been displaced in the earthquake which hit the area. She expressed her satisfaction over the fact that the local administration with the help of the military had successfully evacuated people from the worst-hit villages, otherwise, she added, the number of casualties could have been more.