Sub-committee to probe Army's use of tourist resorts in Swat

ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Tourism Molana Atta-ur-Rehman said on Thursday that Pakistan Army had occupied the tourist resorts of Malamjaba and Gul-I-Bagh, Swat, and turned them into army base camps. While replying to senators questions in the Senate Standing Committee on Tourism here at Parliament House, he added that Army was a rich organisation of the country and they should pay for utilising the facility of Ministry of Tourism at Gul-I-Bagh. The whole resort has been ruined by the armys activities during the last few years. We are not even able to pay salaries to our employees and we are not earning a single penny from these areas, which was a favourite for local as well as foreign tourists, he asserted. On this occasion, Senator Gulshan Saeed said that Pakistan Army was doing excellent job in the Swat that should be appreciated. Army should not be criticised and other options should be considered. However, we should recommend to high ups to support the Ministry of Tourism to resume the activities in the attractive areas, she added. Chairperson, Senator Nilofar Bakhtiar constituted a four-member sub-committee to visit the affected tourists areas and compile a comprehensive report on this issue. Senator Farha Aqil will head the sub-committee, while Abdul Khaliq Pirzada, Salauddin Doger and Sabina Rauf will be members of the committee. The House criticised the privatisation policy of the Government, especially the hotels of the Ministry of Tourism, and asked the Federal Minister for Privatisation Waqar Ahmed to give a detailed presentation regarding the selling of hotels in the next meeting on the 23rd of this month. Minister for Privatisation Senator Waqar Ahmed Khan was of the opinion that the Ministry of Tourism, Senate Standing Committee on Tourism and Privatisation Commission should jointly deliberate upon issues relating to privatisation of hotels/motels and also take CCI into confidence before finalising a decision. The House was informed that Ministry of Tourism was going to start a train service from Changa Manga to Taxila for tourists. The chairperson of the Committee directed the Ministry to ensure the security of tourists. The meeting hinted out that the money obtained through privatisation of Cecil, Deans, and Faletti hotel was not given to PTDC and that the said money should have been used for building more hotels/motels. It is pertinent to mention here that in 1998, Cecil Hotel Murree and Dean Hotel Peshawar were privatised for Rs. 190.9m and Rs. 364m respectively, while in 2004, Faletti Hotel Lahore was sold at the cost of Rs. 1211.1m.