Preserving and promoting heritage: City of saints to turn tourist hub

Commissioner says city’s ancient sites will be restored

MULTAN:

Tourism will flourish in Multan once 23 of the city’s biggest shrines, 12 ancient mosques and seven gates are restored, Multan Division Commissioner Captain (r) Asadullah Khan said at a conference on expanding tourism opportunities on Tuesday.

Khan directed officials to come up with a plan for protection of Multan’s heritage sites, training tour guides and operators.

“We will remove encroachments around the clock tower and convert the building into a museum,” he said. The city’s historic gates will be restored to their original design, he said.

Among other suggestions were the promotion of the blue pottery, camel skin, embroidery and other cottage industries.

He said there was need to restore the ancient temples and British-era churches in the city in order to give a message of peace and love to tourists visiting from other countries. “Multan is the birth place of three kings Ahmad Shah Abdali, Muhammad Tughlaq and Bahlul Lodhi.”

He said plans for national-level events and tourist rides would be similar to the plans for the desert rally in Bahawalpur. He directed the authorities to make plans for promoting folk music and Multan’s cuisine. The mango festival could be arranged on the bank of River Chenab, he said. The commissioner also suggested holding a horseback race event from Koh-i-Suleman to Dera Ghazi Khan Airport.

He directed the authorities to provide guides to tourists from within the country and to register the guides with the district government so that the administration could call them for their services. He told officials to organise a workshop for tour operators, hotels and restaurant owners.

The small industries director said the government had provided Rs295 million for various projects. The project director of the Blue Pottery Institute said the government had given the institute Rs300 million to hold an exhibition of blue pottery. He said plans for the exhibition were underway and the institute was making 20 types of Multani tiles.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2015.