Jam Kamal asks Karachiites to visit not-so-explored places in Balochistan

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan has urged the people and investors in Karachi to give value to the tourist spots in the country, especially the not-so-explored beautiful and historical places in Balochistan.

He requested the business community to come forward to promote tourism in Pakistan. The Balochistan CM stated this on Monday while addressing a seminar on the prospects of tourism in Balochistan. The programme was organised at a hotel in Karachi by the Balochistan government.

Speaking on the occasion, the Balochistan CM said Pakistanis did not need to go abroad for tourism keeping in view a number of tourist destinations present in the country.

He said money should be invested “on the right spots for the promotion of tourism in the country”. On the contrary, he added, people had been “spending billions of rupees on wrong places”.

He said there was a need to “vanquish the phenomenon of terrorism in Balochistan through tourism”. The Balochistan CM said those who had been doing efforts to promote tourism in the country should be given the respect they deserved.

He said there had been countries in the world whose total population was not more than 25 million, which was close to the population of Karachi alone. “The people of Karachi usually visit different spots within the city for recreation. It doesn’t count as tourism,” he said. “There are several places outside Karachi for tourism. Baloshistan has a number of historical mountains which make ideal tourist places,” he said.

He expressed satisfaction over the holding of seminar in Karachi for making Karachiites aware of the prospects of tourism in Balochistan. Jam Kamal said the seminar would “definitely go a long way in promoting tourism” in his province.

Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Culture Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah expressed gratitude to the Balochistan government for choosing Karachi as a venue for organising the seminar on tourism.

He said Mahar Ghar, a place situated in Balochistan, was considered as the mother of Indus Valley Civilisation. He said the incidents of extremism in the past had impeded tourism in Pakistan.

The Sindh culture minister lamented that people in the country did not have a habit to visit places of archaeological importance in Pakistan, such as Mahar Ghar and Mohejodero. He urged the Balochistan CM to launch a Sindh-Balochistan Cultural Exchange Programme.