MIRPUR (AJK)-The AJK government here Tuesday announced to observe new year of 2019 as the year of tourism with aim to turn the scenic state into a hub of tourism industry. And at the same time, the state government moves in to preserve archaeological sites in this part of the Himalayan state of Jammu & Kashmir.
The AJK Departments of Tourism, Archaeology and Information are all set to jointly hold a grand three-day 1st Kashmir Conference on Archaeology from January 4, it was officially announced.
Addressing a joint crowded news conference here on Tuesday, Director General AJK Tourism & Archaeology Department Peerzada Ershad Ahmed and Director General Press Information Department Raja Azhar Iqbal informed that objective of holding of the national Kashmir moot on archaeology is to unearth, preserve and rehabilitate pieces of centuries old cultural heritages in various parts of Azad Jammu Kashmir and promote the tourism industry. They pointed out that the AJK possesses great potential for tourism and only a conducive environment is required to attract local and foreign investment in the tourism sector.
Highlighting salient features of the conference, they said that AJK President Sardar Masood Khan will inaugurate the moot, to be first of its own kind, being held under the auspices of the two department of the AJK with prime focus on attracting intending local and foreign entrepreneurs to move for making investment in the tourism sector. They informed that various historic sites including centuries old Ram Kot fort, Mangla Fort in Mirpur district, Baghser Fort in Bhimbher district and Muzaffarabad Fort besides places of worships in Mirpur division and other parts of the state would be restored and renovated.
The AJK tourism DG and PID chief Azhar Iqbal continued that AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan will be the chief guest at the concluding session of the grand conference to be held on January 6.
The concluding session of the moot will be followed by a detailed site-seeing trip by the participants of the conference to the ancient sites in Mirpur division depicting thousands of years old cultural heritage of the Jammu & Kashmir state including Ramkot fort, Baghser fort and the identical historic sites on currently the dried-bed of the Mangla lake including mausoleum of Hazrat Meeran Shah, the temple and other identical historic places, they added.
Besides senior officials of the concerned institutions of the governments of Pakistan and AJK, leading experts of the field of tourism and the archaeologists from various parts of the country including AJK including ex Ambassador Arif Kamal, AJK Minister for Tourism Mushtaq Minhas, Ms Midhat Shahzad, AJK Secretary for Tourism & Archaeology, Dr. Ghani ur Rehman from Quaid-e-Azam University, Dr Shakirullah Jan and Muzaffar Ahmed from Hazara University Mansehra, Dr. Muhammad Hamid from and Asif Mahmood Rana from University of Punjab, Dr Ijaz Khan from Mardar AWK University, Dr Abdul Rehman, DPI Colleges, AJK, Research Scholar and expert of Tourism and Archaeology and retired DG Tourism AJK Dr. Mohsin Shakeel, Dr Gul Raheem from Peshawar University, Prof Dr Rukhsana Said Hassan Khan, Assistant Prof of AJK University, Ms Asma Ibrahim Director State Bank Museum, Ahtishaam Aziz Research Officer Lahore Museum, Samiullah from Peshawar University, Brigadier Adnan from Army Museum Rawalpindi, Dr Zainul Abideen Prof at Metropolitan Academy of Art and Design, Dr Adil Shah from Hazara University, Ms. Syeda Rubiqa Abdi Bukhari from Punjab University, Ms. Fatiha Hamid M. Phil Scholar from Mirpur, Mian Atique Ahmed, Secretary General Museum Association of Pakistan, Aftabur Rehman President Sustainable Tourism Development Foundation Pakistan, DGPR Raja Azhar Iqbal and the DG Tourism and Archaeology of AJK Peerzada Ershad Ahmed would deliver their respective expert opinions over the bright potential of tourism, preservation of the sites of archaeology through their rehabilitation for the attracting of the local and foreign tourist particularly comprising millions of UK-based Kashmiri diaspora including Pakistani and Kashmiri expatriates living in various European and middle east countries.