World Travel News

Negative US travel advisory ‘causing harm’

Washington has been asked by Islamabad to stop issuing negative travel advisories to its citizens as they were hurting American investment and tourism in Pakistan, officials said yesterday.

Sources said that visiting United States Under secretary of State of Treasury for International Affairs John B Taylor was told this in a number of meetings with senior Pakistani authorities.

The officials informed Taylor that more US companies and investors could invest in Pakistan provided no negative travel advisories were still being issued by the Bush administration.

The US secretary of treasury, who called on Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Wednesday, was informed that although US investors were visiting Pakistan to help increase the foreign direct investment, the problem of image was still there due to the negative travel advisories being issued for the last many years.

He had also met State Bank of Pakistan Governor Dr Ishrat Hussain. Sources said that Taylor assured to brief senior US leaders, including President George W Bush, over the issue.

More: gulf-times.com

70 per cent of Afghan narcotics travel through Pakistan

The Director General, Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF), Pakistan, Major General Nadeem Ahmad, has said that nearly 70 percent of narcotics manufactured in Afghanistan are either smuggled into or transited through Pakistan.

Speaking at the international expert roundtable conference organised by the ANF under the Paris Pact Initiative, the director general revealed that currently an area of over 131,000 hectares was under poppy cultivation in Afghanistan.

The total yield was estimated at 4,200 tonnes, which could produce 360 metric tonnes of heroine, The Daily Times quoted him as saying.
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General’s travel plans: Bus to Srinagar, flight thereafter

Among the proposals being studied by both India and Pakistan is a suggestion from Islamabad that President Pervez Musharraf take the bus from Muzaffarabad to Srinagar and then fly to Jamshedpur for the India-Pakistan one day international on April 9.

“However, we will have to discuss this with the Indian authorities and nothing is final so far,” sources said.

But the option that Musharraf might ride on the bus linking the two halves of Kashmir, that is scheduled to begin its run on April 7, was among the proposals being considered. This would get the Pakistan president to Jamshedpur in time for the ODI on April 9.

A senior official at the foreign office said the bus journey was “a difficult” choice as many “complications” were involved. “But surely we are going to forward this to the Indian government.”

“It may be delayed for a day or two if the president opts for this route to watch the cricket match.” Officials said the president had accepted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s invitation to visit India to watch one of the Pakistan-India cricket matches.

Musharraf had said in an interview last week that he would love to watch some of the India-Pakistan cricket series, but only if invited. Government sources said several options were being considered for Musharraf’s visit to India to watch a cricket match, though the President had indicated his preference for an ODI instead of a Test.

PoK Assembly’s no to non-Kashmiris’ travel by bus

PAKISTAN-occupied Kashmir’s Assembly has unanimously passed a resolution opposing travel by non-Kashmiris on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, scheduled to run from April seven. In the resolution, the PoK Legislative Assembly yesterday demanded that the visits by other citizens of India and Pakistan to either country should take place by normal routes using passports and visas.

It said the bus travel by non-Kashmiri Indians and Pakistanis could cause certain complications, such as creating an by peace bus impression that the LoC could be regularised as border. The Assembly also demanded that no immigration office be set up in PoK for people coming from India. The resolution, moved by the head of the ruling Muslim Conference Abdul Qayyum Khan, however, welcomed the initiation of the bus service and wanted it started as scheduled. It also demanded opening four more old routes connecting both parts of Kashmir for travel.

‘‘This house specifically urged the government of Pakistan not to agree to any proposals aimed at splitting Kashmir,’’ the resolution said. Reacting to the resolution, Pakistan foreign office clarified that the bus service would also be available to non-Kashmiris from India and Pakistan.