Minister of State and Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Task Force for Gandhara Tourism, Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani on Wednesday called for the promotion of archeological sites especially, Gandhara to highlight the positive image of Pakistan at the global level. Talking to the media on the occasion of his visit to the historical and archeological sites in Takht Bahi, district Mardan, he said that thousands of years ago, Takht Bahi was an important cradle of education and training during the Gandhara civilization and still this site has many things to teach.
Ambassadors of Indonesia and Thailand, Diplomats of Nepal, China and Bangladesh and students living in China, Pakistan, civil society, foreigners and media representatives also accompanied the state minister. Dr. Ramesh Kumar Vankwani said the federal and provincial governments should have to work together to extend facilities including visa, accommodation and others to foreigners to promote tourism. He said that mentioning Gandhara civilization was incomplete without reference to the great Maharaja Ashoka whose territories included present day Pakistan, Afghanistan and India.
He said that as chairman of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Gandhara Tourism, he was visiting different sites in the country to check the missing facilities and coordinate with the line departments to develop these sites according to international standards. Kumar said that he has great respect for every religion and people should be facilitated to visit the archaeological sites to promote inter-faith harmony besides promoting tourism to strengthen the economy.
He said that recently, he visited Shah Allah Ditta in Islamabad and on Wednesday he would go to Swat as part of efforts to promote tourism. Kumar deplored that the past KP government didn’t take any pragmatic step to promote the archeological sites, especially religious sites in the province, adding that he was working on different plans to promote tourism.
He urged bureaucracy, business community and media to play their imperative role in promotion of these sites and attracting foreign tourists. Speaking on the occasion, the diplomats expressed their happiness that they had the opportunity to visit the Gandhara-era Takht Bahi holy place, which is the wish of every Buddha in the world to visit.
