The travel advisory for Pakistan has neither deterred businessmen nor travellers to visit the country as it is open for investment with its investor-friendly environment, said Islamabad's envoy to Britain Dr Maleeha Lodhi.
"There is already a travel advisory but we have seen that this has not deterred travellers to Pakistan. This has certainly not deterred businessmen from travelling to Pakistan and that is what we have always tell people, come and see yourself, Pakistan is open for business," she said in an interview here with a television channel.
Maleeha said Pakistan's tourists sights were also open to tourists and there had been many expeditions recently to the peaks in Pakistan and one of them was the highest peak in the world.
To another question, she said economically Pakistan had achieved a growth rate of 8.4 percent, which had placed it among the three highest growth performers in the world, but the real challenge was to translate it into improving the standard of life of the people.
The country had gone past in a strategic transition by creating an infrastructure for a political and economic stability, she said, adding it was well on the road to democratic governance which had seen a much larger representation of women, which was its important feature.
Questioned on the current composite dialogue between Pakistan and India, Maleeha said, so far the process of confidence building had gone very well and the environment in the region had undergone a dramatic change.
She said, "There is yearning for peace on both sides of the border" but there was a tough task ahead of a dispute resolution and the two countries had yet to find a peaceful and just settlement of the Kashmir issue and other issues being negotiated between the two countries. "So far so good but as I said the substance of the dispute still has to be solved", she added.
Answering another question of the recent talks offered by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the Hurriyat leaders, she said Pakistan had always said any " process which deals with finding a political resolution or a negotiated resolution of the Kashmir dispute has to involve the Kashmiri people. It cannot be a situation which remains bilateral, it has to be trilateralised at some stage."
Welcoming Manmohan Singh's offer, she said the two countries had to find a modality to involve the Kashmiris in the peace process, "because no peace process then will be completed if the Kashmiris are excluded from this peace process."
Asked on the commercial relations between Pakistan and India, she called for a level playing field and said the Indian trade regime was "far more restrictive than Pakistan."
"Pakistan has a much more open trade regime, so therefore for any two countries to engage in bilateral trade or indeed for regional trade to open up, it is important that India removes its tariff and non-tariff barriers that there is an even playing field. If there is an even playing field, of course, we are supremely confident that our businessmen and our business entities will be able to compete," she said.
Answering a question on terrorism, Maleeha said, "the record of Pakistan both in combating terrorism as well as its experience in being a victim of terrorism is recognised by the Western media. We get of course appreciation from Western governments" like British Prime Minister Tony Blair did in praising Pakistan's role and co-operation in fighting terrorism.
She conceded the challenge was to explain to the people that why the region for the last several years had seen the challenges of militancy which largely a result of the long Soviets occupation of Afghanistan.
Answering a question on British Pakistanis concerns on the 59th Independence Day following the July 7 London bombings, the envoy said she conveyed their apprehensions to a Home Office Minister Hazel Blears, as Blears had been assigned to out-reach the British Muslims. The main anxiety of the British Muslims is that they should not be "stigmatised or maligned for the actions" of a few people.
The British media, she said, had not told all of the story, adding it "needs to have much more comprehensive approach to understanding some of these issues." So the challenge is to engage with the British media and to ensure that it should have a more balanced view what is happening in our region as well as what is happening in their own country, she added.
Questioned on President General Pervez Musharraf's latest statement on terrorism and the way it could be tackled, she said, "the President had always said, even before 9/11 that vast majority of Pakistanis were quintessentially moderate. But this time the President had also distinguished between the terrorists to be dealt with law enforcement and extremism because the latter reflected a state of mind. This requires an approach to win hearts and minds and address the underlying factors, which create radicalisation and the extremist views in the society."
"So I think what the President is urging is for an approach that is broad-based, multi- faceted, multi-dimensional that can deal with issues of extremism, not just in our society but elsewhere also," she said. Questioned on Pak- Saudi relations after death of the King Fahd, she said the late monarch was a very good friend of Pakistan but present King Abdullah too was a very good friend. Both the countries had an excellent, deep and long-standing relationship, which had stood the test of time and it would continue to do so in future, she said.
Answering a question on introduction of machine-readable passports for British Pakistanis, Maleeha said, requisite steps were being taken in that regard, adding once those were completed, the High Commission would start issuing such passports.
The envoy invited suggestions from the community on how the consular service of the High Commission could be further improved.
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