It was shocking to see owner of the Marriott Hotel using bomb blast as an excuse to put pressure on government to allocate land adjacent to the hotel for extension of his facility. Mr. Hashwani has given the reasoning that future security cannot be ensured if the adjacent land is not given to him as per his architect's design proposal. He, then, went on to threaten that he will not construct the hotel if his proposal is not accepted. I think Mr Hashwani is rather crassly using this tragedy to advance his business interests.  The best option for CDA will be to go for an open auction of the plot and give it to the highest bidder. If the owner of Marriott Hotel can win the bid, well and good. But the government should not be deprived of billions of rupees by selling this prized land at throwaway price just because he has to be 'compensated'. -DR IRFAN ZAFAR, Islamabad, via e-mail, September 27.