Thar Desert Festival puts Tourism Ministry to Shame

If merit was one of the considerations for holding a cabinet position, Ms Nilofer Bakhtiar, our honourable minister of tourism, should be out of a job. Despite the hype created over Visit Pakistan Year 2007, its first major event - the Thar Desert Festival, has turned out to be a disaster.

When it comes to giving the country a bad name, the government is quick to accuse others - including victims of rape as well as human rights activists who highlight their cause. In the past, the President has issued threatening statements against those he feels are working against the name of Pakistan. But what to do when the government itself does the same. Through its mismanagement and inefficiency, it spoils the name of the country and destroys its image in the eyes of others. Will the president also take these people to task?

The Desert Festival in Umerkot (Thar) was held last week amidst much publicity and promises. Millions of taxpayer money was spent in advertising the event itself. But neither the tourism ministry nor the provincial government and its related departments had any clue about what the show was all about and what it had to offer if one called on the numbers given in the advertisements.

The first inquiries went out to the Ministry of Tourism in Islamabad who curtly informed that honourable minister Ms Bakhtiar was not going to attend as she was out of the country. The irony is that the minister was going to Turkey to promote the tourism year.

It would have been better if she had been in Umerkot instead. However, the lure of a taxpayer paid freebie are hard to resist especially when the options are Umerkot or Istanbul.

The second line of inquiry went to Ms Rabia Javeria, a Sindh Tourism official, who also was clueless about accommodation and other arrangements. All these had been placed in the able hands of the local administration. Several calls to Sindh Tourism as well as the appointed tour operators yielded very little aside from vague promises and generalized itineraries.

Despite the overall uncooperative attitude of the officials concerned, one ventured to Umerkot for the festival. Here it seemed that the only “tourists” were provincial bureaucrats who seemed to have crawled out of the woodwork and for them it was a sort of reunion. Several government cars were in attendance at Umerkot and most of the accommodation had also been taken over by them. For them, it was one big party.

There was no sign of the promised tented village that Ms Bakhtiar had told reporters would be set up in Umerkot. There were no tourists either. The local administration had done all it could to clean up the small historic city and give it a presentable look. And yet, there was very little on offer here. There are limits to a bureaucrat’s imagination.

The manner in which the Umerkot Fort was decorated left much to be desired. It seemed like the decorator got his cues from a shadi hall. The tacky decorations were further made ugly by the fact that almost no effort had been made to create an ambiance of festivity.

The much promised Sound and Light Show was changed to what locals referred to a “laughter show”. Here, in one skit, one could hear a man imitate the barking of a dog, which may have amused the locals, but would not be something for which tourists would travel hundreds of miles to witness.

If that was not enough, a portion of the “food and culture stalls” which were promised to tourists remained in darkness. This was because there was some dispute between the local politicians and the minister of culture, who eventually turned up to inaugurate the event. Provincial politics seemed to have taken over the Visit Pakistan Year.

While the Umerkot building is a grand affair, it seems the government did all it could to ensure that people did not enjoy what it had to offer. The laughter show and dark stalls aside, the museum was closed and there was nothing for any visitor. No toilets, no restaurant and unsatisfactory parking arrangements.

In terms of food, the only thing on offer was biryani - that too the locals confided was a thella wallah who had been asked to close his shop in the street below and sell to those attending the festival. No help desk was set up by any arm of the tourism machinery that is in place.

There were no arrangements to see other areas of Umerkot. No one had information about accommodation in Umerkot or what to see here.

Let no one, however, be under the impression that Umerkot has nothing to offer.

With a large Hindu population, it is a town that fascinates Pakistanis from other parts, let alone foreigners. It has its own local cuisine, dresses, crafts, jewellery and music. No effort was made to put any of this on display at the desert festival, where incidentally a Mushaira was held instead.

While this disaster was unfolding, Nilofar Bakhtiar is in Turkey this week promoting Pakistan as a “top destination spot” to Turks at the 11th Eastern Mediterranean International Tourism and Travel Fair (EMITT) in Istanbul.

The honourable minister said that as part of a “strategic plan”, Pakistan’s Tourism Ministry has prepared a schedule to focus on informing 24 countries about what the country has to offer visitors. Politics was not far behind.

Bakhtiar explained that as an Islamic country, Pakistan looks to Turkey “as a model of moderation” with a predominantly Muslim population, which retains its secularism. “This is a country that we’d like to follow,” commented the minister.

But it’s not as simple as that. The tourism ministry seems to be pursuing a political agenda. Politics cannot mix with tourism. What is it that we are promoting? Pakistan or enlightened moderation? And controversies abound over the Visit Pakistan year.

The latest controversy surrounds the Jashn-e-Baharan festival (also known to lesser mortals as Basant) in Lahore. This festival had become a crowd puller for tourists to Lahore. But what’s the fun in that?

The city government says that in Basant, kites cause damage to the infrastructure worth millions because of the kind of twine used in flying the kites, which has ground glass particles in it. Needless deaths have occurred. How does the government react? Instead of punishing those who make, sell and use such dangerous string, the government bans the festival.

The Supreme Court also wants to know why a ban it imposed on kite flying is being violated. How can we advertise a festival as part of the Visit Pakistan year when the premise of the festival (kite flying) is subject to a court order?

Also, why does every event of any note we do have to end with a fashion show of sorts? Is that all we have left to show visitors? The cultural show in Islamabad in December will most probably present more of the same. One wonders why.

Another question that one can ask is that is holding a Visit Pakistan year on a year in which elections are supposed to be held a good idea, given the heat of sentiments that go with such exercises?

Would it not be a good idea to put our house in order before inviting in guests to sample what it has to offer? Also to time it better and more practically plan it. For starters, let us get people who have experience in the field to come forward and try and salvage the rest of the events of Visit Pakistan year.