LAST Thursday unknown militants destroyed the motel and chairlift at Malam Jabba in Swat, one of few if not the only ski resort in Pakistan that attracted national and foreign enthusiasts of the sport. On reading the news I heaved a deep and heartfelt sigh of grief even though I am neither a skier nor a tourist who ever visited Malam Jabba. Still I felt a deep sense of personal grief mixed with lament at the destruction of a beauty site that thousands visited every winter to feast their eyes on the serene beauty of pure white snow.
I mourn for the loss partly because as ambassador to Austria in 1976-78 I invested considerable time and effort to persuade the government of Chancellor Bruno Kreisky to allocate foreign aid funds for equipment and experts to be sent to Pakistan to install the chairlift and build tourist resort facilities. It was not an easy decision for the Kreisky government because some Austrian newspapers had mocked at the project in a country that had little knowledge or enthusiam for the snow sport. Then Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto took personal interest in the project for Swat because it would bring employment to local people and income to small businesses that flower around a tourist resort. In order to expedite the project he sent direct instructions to the Pakistan embassy to accept the terms proposed by the Austrian government in order to attract skilled technicans to be deputed to Pakistan to oversee and complete the project in a reasonable period of time.
Partly too my spontaneous sense of mourning arose from a gnawing feeling of loss of direction by a section of our unfortunate and uneducated people who not only lack capacity to appreciate natural beauty but more alarmingly misconceive and ignore the values of our glorious religion that emphasizes the spirit of tolerance and respect for feelings of others and want to deny the opportunity to nationals and foreigners who derive happiness from innocent sports and peace of mind from snow scenery. Infuriated by some dark forces injected inside their misguided minds marauders indulged in an orgy of destruction that will also rob employees of the motel and business people of their livelihood. How far have some of our extremists strayed from the hopes and expectations of our founding fathers who envisioned Pakistan as a progressive and moderate Islamic state! One can only hope and pray that the deviation will be corrected and that reactionary elements will not be allowed to determine the future of our nation conceived by enlightened leaders.
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