Pakistan has great potential for religio-cultural tourism - Sri Lankan HC

Sajjad Malik

ISLAMABAD: Sri Lankan High Commissioner Dr. W.B. Dorakumbure says Pakistan has great potential for religious and cultural tourism, but it has not been tapped so far.

"Over 300,000 Buddhist pilgrims visit India every year and Pakistan can attract even more due to sites revered here by Buddhists. Pakistan can also attract numerous tourists interested in cultural icons," he said. Dr. Dorakumbure said Islamabad was 'too quiet' and everyday signs of life vanished in the evening. He, however, lauded the greenery of the city.

The High Commissioner also praised the people of Pakistan whom he described as nice and friendly towards Sri Lanka. He also showed great liking for local cuisine, but complained about excessive use of oil in cooked foods.

Dr. Dorakumbure said Muhammad Ali Jinnah was a great leader and envisioned Pakistan as a democratic and liberal country.

He said economic relations between Pakistan and Sri Lanka were growing fast due to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed in 2005 and bilateral trade had crossed $200 million. He also said that most of the people were ignorant of the benefit of mutual trade and the two Governments should try to educate them. He said Sri Lankan Government was already informing its people about it.

"Pakistan can import 10,000 kg tea from Sri Lanka, but last year its imports were of only 3,000 kg and to increase it, we are planning to open a tea centre in Karachi," he said. He said the balance of trade was in favour of Pakistan.

He also said that Sri Lanka had duty-free access to the EU market under the GSP scheme and Pakistani exporters could exploit this facility by first exporting to Sri Lanka and then to EU countries after some sort of value addition.

Dr. Dorakumbure was optimistic about greater regional cooperation among SAARC countries. He said a common strategy should be adopted to face problems. "Terrorism was one such problem and most regional countries were afflicted with it and could cooperate to end terrorism," he said.

He said terrorism could not be defeated with military might only. "I have serious reservations about the use of force to end terrorism; one should go for the reasons which include poverty and sense of alienation," he said. About threats of imposing war on Iran, he said, "I hope there would be no war in Iran because it would have serious impact on the whole region."

Dr. Dorakumbure talked about the issue of Tigers and the cause of conflict in the country for the last over 25 years. He said that most of the western media consciously misunderstood the issue and equated it with liberation or independent struggle.

"Tamils fighting the Government forces are terrorists; it is not an ethnic issue," he said. He also claimed that the Sri Lanka Government had held a number of rounds of talks with Tamils, but every time they backed out under various pretexts.

Daily Times, Pakistan