ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari urged residents of the city to visit the three-day Tourism Expo and Family Festival at F-9 Park with their families.

The event, inaugurated on Friday, features recreational activities like paragliding, accuracy landing, wing suite flying, trike flying, skydiving and power paragliding as part of the Field Marshal Paragliding Championship. Concerts along with a food festival will also be held.

Pakistan is an ideal spot for adventure tourism and Islamabad is blessed with beautiful landscapes and a thriving wildlife habitat along with a clean environment, Mr Bukhari said and thanked the ministries for their support in providing assistance to organisers of the event.

The festival has been organised by Pakistan Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (PHPA) in collaboration with the Cutting Edge Group.

Information Minister Shibli Faraz, Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan, Minister for Power Omer Ayub Khan, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza and CEO of Cutting Edge Chaudhry Shahzad Akhtar were also present at the ceremony.

Mr Akhtar said there are only a few places on earth that have been blessed with the wonders of nature, and it is our duty to share our diverse culture, astounding art and craft, exquisite cuisines and extraordinary music with the world.

Senator Shibli Faraz said the festival was organised on the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan for promotion of tourism in the country as this will also create more jobs.

Paragliding is an affordable activity and the youth must participate in it, he said, adding delegates from Pakistan and foreign countries will also be a part of the festival.

Ms Mirza said Islamabad is one of the most beautiful and safest cities in Asia. Women are playing their part to the fullest in every field including sports and tourism, she said, adding airshows are being arranged in collaboration with the armed forces wherein civilian paragliders and skydivers would also be included.

Vintage car shows, horse parade besides corporate and educational expos will be part of the event.

The festival will go on till March 7.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2021