Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed said we see no baseline study for winter sports or even for summer tourism. Wildlife habitats are disturbed by some influential ones while mountaineering expeditions left their waste in our mountains and no one seems concerned about it. 

DNA

Islamabad – Speaking at a webinar the experts urged for an inclusive and integrated winter sports strategy to attract tourism towards northern Pakistan. Environment and climate change shall remain the main concern while devising any sports events for the winter season. It is the hibernation and mating time for wildlife and biodiversity while massive human activities would disturb their lifecycle.

Unplanned massive interventions are becoming hazards to the local environment and communities besides the biological diversity loss. A fistful influential ones are enjoying at the cost of millions of people while the poor communities are not only deprived of their local environment, heritage and natural resources, they are also not getting anything in return.

The experts also showed their concerns on the unwise decisions of the Gilgit-Baltistan government to open Deosai National Park for the winter sports from March this year. They said millions of dollars have been spent on the conservation and protection of the wildlife habitats and biological diversity in the Deosai National Park that are being put on risk. The participants urged the Supreme Court of Pakistan, national and international development organizations to take notice of it.

The webinar was organized by the Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) and DTN to brainstorm on “Winter Sports – Scope, Opportunities and Challenges” on Sunday. The panelists included National Tourism Coordination Board (NTCB) member and sustainable tourism expert Aftab ur Rehman Rana, National Tourism Coordination Board convener on adventure sports Shahid Nadeem, WWf-Pakistan Senior Director Wildlife Rab Nawaz, another WWFS-Pakistan Senior Director Tahir Rasheed, EvK2CR Environment Conservation Expert Arif Hussain, Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed. Others who spoke on the occasion included RCCI travel and tourism expert Fouzia Qazi, The Adventure Club president Tahir Imran Khan, journalist Zubair Ayub, development experts Umme Kulsoom and Sabeena Hena Iqbal, Baltistan Association of Tour Operators (BATO) chairman Muhammad Iqbal, and Lion Sarfaraz Malik.

Aftab ur Rehman Rana said we have seen mushroom growth of winter sports in recent years without any planning and strategy. No one is really interested in taking care of nature, biodiversity and wildlife. Winter is the rest-time for nature and wildlife that descends from their original habitats but found no space for mating and hibernation downwards. Excessive winter sports are hazardous to nature and an undue pressure on the forest resources. Winter resorts meant for adventure sports are being shut worldwide to reduce pressure on nature and climatic conditions. We are unwisely supporting everything blindly.

WWF-Pakistan Senior Director Rab Nawaz said all activities are being conducted in isolation and without considering environmental concerns and hazards to nature and wildlife. Government should take the lead in developing an inclusive and integrated approach toward conducting winter and adventure sports. Environmental organizations are not against anything but everything we take up should be sustainable and nature friendly. We talk about communities but exclude them from planning to the implementation. Outdoor activities are healthy for human beings, they should be healthy for the environment too.

Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed said communities are getting nothing out of what monetary benefits generated in their names and at the cost of their local resources that are crucial too for the people living downstream. We see no baseline study for the winter sports or even for the summer tourism. International mountaineering expeditions come to scale the peaks and leave their garbage and waste in our mountains and no one seems concerned about it. The highlands too are being spoiled with the constructions in the name of ‘strategic needs’ which are highly toxic for nature and natural resources. The federal and provincial government should promote responsible and sustainable tourism putting a price tag on the environmental services for tourism and adventure sports.

Tahir Rasheed, another senior director WWF Pakistan, said all stakeholders need to sit together to develop an inclusive strategy for winter sports. The site shall be selected keeping in view the wildlife needs of hibernation and mating. Communities should be part of the planning and profit sharing.

EvK2CNR conservation expert Arif Hussain said winter sports have increased in recent years in different parts of northern Pakistan. We need to have a strategy to regularize and integrate the events with the conservation efforts. He said the GB government is interested to explore the possibilities of adventure and winter sports where the EvK2CNR is helping them in Deosai National Park and in other parts. He said they have no resources to continue with the massive cleanup of the high mountains while there is no check on the mountaineering expeditions.

Tahir Imran Khan said there is no winter sports policy or any regulatory body while the adventure enthusiasts lack training, support and infrastructure. Some high-end customers are playing with the natural resources and creating hazards for the locals and the national environment security. Federal government should come up with an inclusive plan. Many are the no-go areas and the adventure enthusiasts have to get NOC for which they have to wait for months.

ISLAMABAD, JAN 31 (DNA): President Dr Arif Alvi on Sunday while sharing his best 10 reads of 2020, called for promotion of book reading culture in the country.

The president, in a video message, advised the people particularly the youth to develop the habit of book reading to enhance their exposure and help suppress the biases.

He said he studied books on current affairs and computer sciences and tried to disseminate his knowledge to the masses through his speeches.

The president shared a list of 10 books he studied last year encompassing the subjects including Islamic history, capitalism, history of subcontinent, upheaval and exploitation in nations, human psychology, riots in India, metric society, physics and artificial intelligence.

He said besides the books suggested by him, the people should also read the useful material of their choice.

The president said when it comes to obtaining huge knowledge published in form of books, he considered his life too short to comprehend it all.

He also showed the notes of various books he took during the reading which he hoped would compile at a later stage.

“I do nothing else but read books during travel, be it is by car or air. I study book as I go home. Though I get a little chance to read books in office, I do it when there is some gap,” he remarked.

The president, who had also shared his best reads of 2019, put at top a book “Revelations” by Meraj Mohiuddin presenting a wide variety of scholarly viewpoints on the story of Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) and Qur’anic revelation.

He also strongly recommended “Art of Thinking Clearly” by Rolf Dobelli on human psychology and reasoning. The book points out around 100 biases found in humans, meant for self-examination and methods to avoid them.

Other books recommended by the president included “Capital and Ideology” by Thomas Picketty (on economic inequalities and suggesting outlines for fairer economic system), “Anarchy” by William Dalrymple (on rise of East India Company and economic prosperity in subcontinent), “Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis” by Jared Diamond (history of different nations like Japan, Soviet Union and their efforts to overcome crises), “Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty” by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson (exploitative society which begets change and leads to revolution).

He said currently, the same battle is going on in Pakistan against the corrupt rulers and system.

President Alvi also recommended “The Metric Society: On the Quantification of the Social” by Steffen Mau (measurement and evaluation in the society), and “The Big Picture by Sean M. Carroll, Sean B. Carroll (scientific worldview and exploration of God).

The tech-savvy president suggested the people to study “Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” by Deckle Edge (how science is advancing and becoming a challenge for humanity) and “Superintelligence” by Nick Bostrom (growing influence of machines and possible replacement of humans by super intelligence).

Other than his 10 best reads, the president also suggested “The End of India” by Khushwant Singh (communal violence in Gujarat in 2002 and rise of religious fundamentalism in India), Gujarat Files by Rana Ayub, Allama Iqbal’s “The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam” and MJ Akbar’s Riot After Riot: Reports on Caste and Communal Violence in India”

Other books recommended by the president included “Protocol” by Capricia Penavic Marshall, “Makers of Modern Sindh” by Dr Muhammad Ali Shaikh (on life of Sindh’s prominent figures), “A Promised Land” by Barack Obama and “Jinnah and Tilak: Comrades in the Freedom Struggle” by AG Noorani and “Tuba” by Shah Baligh-ud-Din, “The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple and “World Enough and Time” by Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan.=DNA

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Former Pakistan ambassador to the US Abida Hussain has claimed that Osama Bin Laden had supported and funded Nawaz Sharif during his government in the 1990s.

Hussain was asked whether claims that Nawaz Sharif was funded by Laden are true. “Osama…he supported Nawaz Sharif at one point. This is a complicated story.”

She then spoke about Pakistan’s nuclear programme, and said Nawaz Sharif was notaware of the developments, and that there was a trust deficit between presidentGhulam Ishaq Khan and him.

She said she was made ambassador by the president and not Nawaz Sharif, and used tobe in contact with the president regarding her job. Nawaz Sharf did not haveobjections to that. The president told her to keep the US government “busy” for18 months because that was the time required for the nuclear programme tocomplete.

Hussain said that the nuclear programme was completed in 1992 and not 1983. Pakistanwas under a lot of pressure from US envoys and lawmakers to roll back theprogramme, she said.

ISLAMABAD, JAN 31 – A Pakistan International Airlines steward has gone missing in Canada, the airlines spokesperson has said. The steward was aboard flight PK-798.

The PIA said that it has initiated an inquiry into the incident. It has also informed the Canadian immigration authority.

In the past, several PIA crew have gone missing in different countries. The PIA had announced proceedings against them.

ISLAMABAD : Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has expressed his condolences on the demise of former Lollywood actress and mother of actor Shaan Shahid, Neelo Begum.

PM Imran Khan in his tweet said: “My condolences and prayers go to Shaan Shahid on the passing of his mother.”

It is to be mentioned here that Abida Riaz, commonly known by her industry name Neelo Begum, had passed away on January 30 at the age of 80.

Neelo was born on 30 June 1940 in Bhera, Sargodha. At age 16, she appeared in Bhowani Junction in 1956, a Hollywood film shot in and around Lahore. She got her big breakthrough in Pakistani films when she performed on the song “Aaye mausam, rangilay suhanay” in the film Saat Lakh in 1957 with music by the renowned music director Rasheed Attre.