Civil administration fails to get Tourism institute vacated from Army in Swat

Despite repeated efforts the civil administration has failed to get the Pakistan Austrian Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management vacated from the army, who are still continuing to use it as a holding cell for terrorists. According to official documents, this institution was constructed as a joint venture by Pakistan and Austria in 2002 at a cost of more than Rs 140 million. The institute was being run by Secretary Tourism ministry and board of directors. The building is situated between Charbagh and Khawazkhela in Swat and was under the control of extremists for some time due to which this institution remain closed from Oct 7 2007 till April 28 2008. After purging Swat from extremists the army took over the control of the building and continued to use it as a holding cell for extremists and terrorists. The building consists of more than 70 rooms and also has 28 suites built on the line of a five star hotel. Parliamentary committees for tourism, tourism minister, KP government and Interior Ministry on many occasions had sent a summary to PM and defense ministry to get the building vacated for tourism purposes but all failed. Defense Ministry has refused to get the building vacated and adopted the stance that it is not possible at this time. On this the federal govt has adopted the stance that since this building is a joint venture of Pakistan and Austria and under the agreement could only be used for tourism purposes thus in order to use it for some purpose the section 5 of the agreement would have to be changed. Tourism ministry has sought an explanation from Defense Ministry of the use of this building but the ministry has refused to give an explanation and said that army would continue to use the building. According to the documents, on 6th July 2010 the Austrian envoy through Foreign Ministry was apprised of the situation and the Austrian envoy also expressed his govt desire that the building should be used for the purpose it was constructed. Meanwhile according to military sources several thousand dangerous and key terrorists are under custody in this building and interrogations are being continued from them and thus they cannot vacate the building.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt