Silk Route Festival: Ukranian ambassador pays first visit to G-B after Nanga Parbat tragedy

Urges govt to update his country on progress made in investigation and arrests of culprits.

HUNZA:

After five of his Ukranian compatriots were brutally murdered alongside five other trekkers at Nanga Parbat, Ukranian Ambassador Volodymyr Lakomov became the first official from his country to visit Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B). Lakomov arrived in Gilgit on Sunday with 14 other foreign delegates to participate in the Silk Route Festival.

After partaking in festivities on Monday, Lakomov found the people of G-B to be “most hospitable” and Hunza residents “amazing dancers”.

“I saw the young and the old dancing to the tunes. It was really an amazing performance. Let me say it’s really good to be here with them,” shared the ambassador at the end of a folk dance performance at the historic Altit Fort in Hunza Valley.



The traditional dance was part of the three-day cultural event organised by the G-B government to revive tourism in the region. The unprecedented Nanga Parbat massacre in June resulted in the death of 10 foreign mountaineers and one local guide. The incident was a serious setback to the region’s tourism industry; foreign travellers left the country in droves and travel advisories were issued.

“I came here to see for myself the land, its culture, music and way of living. Now I am convinced it’s a safe and secure place for foreigners,” Ambassador Lakomov told The Express Tribune.

Progress report, please?

The ambassador, however, urged the G-B government to update the Ukrainian embassy on progress made in investigation and arrests of the killers.

“There is a deficit in this regard. We should be kept in the loop with regards to the [Nanga Parbat] investigation so we can also update people back home,” he said.



The delegation representing 15 Silk Route countries reached Gilgit on Sunday after which they visited Hunza and Nagar valleys on Monday, the second day of the event. En route to Hunza, the delegates travelled though the Karakoram Highway, taking in historically significant sites.

The guests had a brief stop at Sikandarabad, where the two continental plates collided 55 million years ago, giving birth to towering mountains in the region.

The procession also stopped over near the original site of the ancient Silk Route. At Nilt valley, a lawmaker told the participants about the Anglo-Brusho War which occurred in 1891 between people of Hunza-Nagar and the British Raj.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2013.