KARACHI: Private hospitality groups in Pakistan have signed memoranda of understanding with the government to build resorts along the picturesque coastal highway in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province, a naval official said on Sunday, adding the investment will help attract local and international tourists to the country.
From the vertiginous peaks of the Kirthar Mountain to the green-carpeted valleys below, Pakistan’s Balochistan province is home to a diverse range of stunning landscapes. Prime among these is the Hingol National Park in the Lasbela district which continues to enthrall local and international tourists eager to catch a glimpse of the myriads of natural wonders that the site has to offer.
From a distance, one can see the Princess of Hope – a natural rock formation that gives the impression of a woman looking beyond the horizon – even as the Chandragup mud volcanoes and Kund Malir’s scenic beaches lure visitors to the area. The Hinglaj Mata temple, which is one of the most sacred places for people of the Hindu faith, is yet another prime attraction in the province.
“We have a 1,000-kilometer coastline [in Balochistan] with an untapped potential over there. We don’t have any resorts along the coastline,” Commander Shabeeh-ul-Kabeer, deputy director of the Pakistan International Maritime Expo and Conference (PIMEC), told Arab News on Sunday.
“[But now], MoUs have been signed with hospitality industry groups to build resorts along the coastline so that people, including foreign tourists, may come to see this beautiful landscape,”he added.
Kabeer said around 20 different MoUs have been signed on the sidelines of the three-day conference that featured 133 stalls, including many by foreign companies.
“It’s just the beginning. You cannot translate it [investment pledges] right now in the digital amount, but this is a big thing as far as timing is concerned,’” the official said, adding that Dreamworld Resorts and Hotels, which is a big name in the hospitality sector, has also agreed to invest.
“Another famous [brand] Watersports came from Lahore to Karachi to sign a deal to build a watersport resort on the Balochistan coast,” the official said, adding that discussions related to the development of Sindh’s coastal belt and its islands were also discussed between relevant stakeholders during the event.
“Minister of maritime affairs today said the investment will be brought to make resorts on the islands to attract tourists,” he said.
Aamer Hammoudi, an official from Watermaster, a Finland-based company manufacturing multipurpose dredgers, said foreign exhibitors at the PIMEC got the opportunity to gauge what was happening in the Pakistani market.
“I have to say that the participation was very good. There had been a lot of activities with the right kind of visitors,” he told Arab News, adding that certain opportunities were identified through PIMEC that will materialize in the future.
“Definitely, it’s a good exhibition,” he added.
PIMEC is part of the AMAN (peace) multinational maritime exercise, which has been organized in the country every two years since 2007.
The eighth edition of the exercise, called AMAN-23, started on Friday with ships, aircraft, special operation forces, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) marines’ teams, and observers arriving from over 50 countries to attend the event.
The exercise has been divided into the harbor and sea phases. The harbor phase involved activities such as seminars, operational discussions, professional demonstrations, international get together, and pre-sail planning of evolutions at sea.
The sea phase includes tactical maneuvers, exercises related to maritime security such as anti-piracy and counterterrorism, search and rescue, gunnery firings, and air defense exercises.
Private groups to build resorts along Balochistan’s scenic coastal highway to boost tourism
https://arab.news/gftu7
Private groups to build resorts along Balochistan’s scenic coastal highway to boost tourism
- Government, hospitality groups sign MoUs on sidelines of international maritime conference to boost tourism in Balochistan
- Around 50 countries partake in multinational maritime exercises held every two years to engage in maritime expertise exchange
Pakistan opposition to continue protest over ex-PM Khan’s health amid conflicting reports
- Pakistan’s government insists that the ex-premier’s eye condition has improved
- Khan’s personal doctor says briefed on his condition but cannot confirm veracity
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s opposition alliance on Monday vowed to continue their protest sit-in at parliament and demanded “clarity” over the health of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, following conflicting medical reports about his eye condition.
The 73-year-old former cricket star-turned-politician has been held at the high-security Adiala prison in Rawalpindi since 2023. Concerns arose about his health last week when a court-appointed lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, was asked to visit Khan at the jail to assess his living conditions. Safdar reported that Khan had suffered “severe vision loss” in his right eye due to central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO), leaving him with just 15 percent sight in the affected eye.
On Sunday, a team of doctors from various hospitals visited the prison to examine Khan’s eye condition, according to the Adiala jail superintendent, who later submitted his report in the court. On Monday, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Yahya Afridi observed that based on reports from the prison authorities and the amicus curiae, Khan’s “living conditions in jail do not presently exhibit any perverse aspects.” It noted that Khan had “generally expressed satisfaction with the prevailing conditions of his confinement” and had not sought facilities beyond the existing level of care.
Having carefully perused both reports in detail, the bench observed that their general contents and the overall picture emerging therefrom are largely consistent. The opposition alliance, which continued to stage its sit-in for a fourth consecutive day on Monday, held a meeting at the parliament building on Monday evening to deliberate on the emerging situation and discuss their future course of action.
“The sit-in will continue till there is clarity on the matter of [Khan's] health,” Sher Ali Arbab, a lawmaker from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who has been participating in the sit-in, told Arab News, adding that PTI Chairman Gohar Ali Khan and Opposition Leader in Senate Raja Nasir Abbas had briefed them about their meeting with doctors who had visited Khan on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters outside parliament, Gohar said the doctors had informed them that Khan’s condition had improved.
“They said, 'There has been a significant and satisfactory improvement.' With that satisfactory improvement, we also felt satisfied,” he said, noting that the macular thickness in Khan’s eye had reportedly dropped from 550 to 300 microns, a sign of subsiding swelling.
Gohar said the party did not want to politicize Khan’s health.
“We are not doctors, nor is this our field,” he said, noting that Khan’s personal physician in Lahore, Dr. Aasim Yusuf, and his eye specialist Dr. Khurram Mirza had also sought input from the Islamabad-based medical team.
“Our doctors also expressed satisfaction over the report.”
CONFLICTING ACCOUNTS
Despite Gohar’s cautious optimism, Khan’s personal physician, Dr. Yusuf, issued a video message on Monday, saying he could neither “confirm nor deny the veracity” of the government’s claims.
“Because I have not seen him myself and have not been able to participate in his care... I’m unable to confirm what we have been told,” Yusuf said.
He appealed to authorities to grant him or fellow physician, Dr. Faisal Sultan, immediate access to Khan, arguing that the ex-premier should be moved to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad for specialist care.
Speaking to Arab News, PTI’s central information secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram said Khan’s sister and their cousin, Dr. Nausherwan Burki, will speak to media on Tuesday to express their views about the situation.
The government insists that Khan’s condition has improved.
“His eye [condition] has improved and is better than before,” State Minister Talal Chaudhry told the media in a brief interaction on Monday.
“The Supreme Court of Pakistan is involved, and doctors are involved. What medicine he receives, whether he needs to be hospitalized or sent home, these decisions are made by doctors. Neither lawyers nor any political party will decide this.”
