Daily Times Editorial 1 October 2019

Successful poll a good sign for Afghanistan

Saturday’s Afghan election was the victory of the people’s resilience and belief that continuity of the process is the only way to defeat the militant mindset. Voters did defy Afghan Taliban threats against casting votes in the presidential elections, though turnout was as low as about 20 per cent of the registered voters. Low turnout, however, should not be an excuse to wrap up the process. The Afghan government used extraordinary arrangements to ensure the security of polling staff and voters and to their credit, polling took place in a relatively calm and peaceful atmosphere. The areas dominated by Taliban saw disruption in the voting process and as many as 400 small scale attacks were reported.

The world bodies should join the Afghan officials to analyse the factors leading to widespread disinterest in the election process and the reported flaws in polling. It is not unusual on an election day in a developing country that biometric machines do not work properly, election materials land in wrong hands and rigging allegations ensue. The third consecutive Afghan presidential election was not without its share of flaws but these shortcomings should be taken as lessons, not excuses against the system. Let us wait for preliminary results, which are likely to be out by October 19 and the final results will be declared by November 7.

Developments regarding the election process prove that Taliban do not want modern-day democracy and that engaging them in dialogue for a power-sharing formula was a flawed strategy. Even during the dialogue, they kept on with their militant activities, targeting innocent citizens. The continuation of the elections, hopefully, will heal the wounds inflicted by decades-long civil war, foreign invasions and fighting between factions across the country.

This time, the main contenders for the top slot are incumbent president Ashraf Ghani and chief executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah. Ghani and Abdullah shared the government for five years after a power sharing agreement brokered by the Americans. This time, it is hoped, the election results would have a clear majority for one of these two contenders and that both sides accept the results. By doing so, both Ghani and Abdullah both would do a great service to democracy and Afghanistan. *

Revisiting the tourism sector

Pakistani cultural sites and museums have seen a big boost in tourism over the last five years. According to Gallup Pakistan, up to 317 per cent increase has been seen in tourists turnout – from 1.6 million visits in 2014 to 6.6 million in 2018. Province wise, Punjab attracted most of the tourists, nearly 95 per cent of them, followed by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The most visited places were museums where visitor numbers increased from 1.7 million in 2014 to around 2.7 million in 2018. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan also hosted such a large number of tourists at their museums. In the last five years, the recorded maximum number of visits was seen in 2018. The data on visitors include both domestic and foreign tourists and the number of foreign visitors to museums went up by approximately 130 per cent and cultural sites by 100 per cent. The museums of Khyber Pakhtunkhaw received 250 per cent more visitors in 2018 than 2014. The data does not tell about the nationality of tourists.

Pakistan is a cultural- and historical- site rich country. The sites most attracting the tourists from 2016-2018 are Pakistan Monument Museum (Islamabad), Khewra Mines Museum (Chakwal), Lok Virsa Heritage Museum (Islamabad), Taxila sites and Lahore museum. Simlialry, the most visited cultural sites include Shahi Qila and Shalimar Gardens (Lahore), the Hiran Minar (Sheikhupura), Jehangir’s tomb (Lahore) and ancient Buddhist monastic complex Takht-i-Bahi (Mardan) in different years from 2016 to 2018. The places such as Moenjodaro and Larkana remained on tourists’ lists.

The progress is promising but more tourists can be attracted by developing more facilities at the sites mentioned above and by discovering more sites across Pakistan. The full potential of the tourism sector has yet to be tapped and the returns on tourism sector are enormous and rapid. A tourist is attracted to a well-advertised and well-reviewed place. While reviewing a site, they examine features like accessibility, availability of facilities falling in high, medium and low budgets, tourist turnout and so on. Once they have been to the place, they will review it on the basis of its grandeur, ambience, conduct of other tourists and vendors and help extended by officials. It is time the authorities revisit their plans regarding revamping the tourism sector and make the country a heaven for sightseers. *