Islamabad(Tazeen Akhtar)Uzbekistan is presenting the best religious ziyarat tourism for Pakistani citizens especially for those who are keen to research history of Muslim inventions in different spheres of science, technology and mathematics. Hadith, Fiqah, Tafseer and other Islamic disciplines also flourished here during the middle ages. This is land of the conquerors like Ameer Temoor and Zaheer ud Din Babur. Imam Bokhari and many other great Muslim scholars had written their worldwide known and read books on Quran and Islam here. This uniqueness of Uzbekistan makes it the most attractive place for researchers,scholars, students etc to visit.
In Pakistan, Samar Qand, Tash Qand and Bukhara are very well known cities as Pakistanis have read about them in the history books. Similarly, Imam Bikhari,Bahuddin Naqshbandi, Abu Rehan Al-Beruni, Abu Musa Khawarzmi, Abu Ali Sina are not only familiar but are held in high esteam for their noble work they accomplished for the guidance of the next generations. The only obstacle in their access to the heritage of these scholars is the means of travel that were not available until few years ago. Now the Embassy of Uzbekistan, with the cooperation of local partners and with the support of Government of Pakistan is providing the best possible sources of journey to this great country of very rich history and culture.
Ambassador of Uzbekistan, Mr. Furqatbek Akhmed Sidiq is regularly hosting the meetings, seminars, discussions to apprise the people of Pakistan from different walks of life about the latest developments to enhancing the connectivity between the two countries.
A round table conference on the subject of MUSLIM SCHOLARS OF UZBEKISTAN held at the Embassy was also in the same connection followed with Iftaar dinner on 23 May 2019. Uzbekistan Tourism Center Pakistan and Travel Advisers International also collaborated in hosting the conference.
Ambassador Furqatbek Akhmed Sidiq highlighted Uzbekistan’s ziyarat tourism potential with his presentation and documentaries screening. Ambassadors of Central Asia, Azerbaijan, Russia, Belarus graced the event with their presence. Travel and Tourism experts, visiting Pakistani scholars , leaders of Sufi orders, youth Representatives and Media Persons were also present.
At this occasion,agreements were reached to conduct joint research works on the heritage of the great Islamic thinkers who lived in Uzbekistan.
Ambassador in his briefing highlighted the ziyarat tourism potential of Uzbekistan. He said that Uzbekistan warmly welcomes Pakistani visitors with open arms and the best hospitality. He said that Uzbekistan Air conducting two direct flights from Lahore every week. Now Fly Dubai is starting flights from Siyalkot, Faisalabad,Multan and Peshawer. These flights will connect Pakistan to Tash Qand via Dubai.
Mr. Furqatbek said that the number of tourists from Pakistan and other countries is increasing with the passage of time. Uzbekistan is updating its hotel and hospitality industry to offer world class services to our guests. Hashoo Group of Pakistan carry the vast experience in this industry. We are in touch with the group to evolve a cooperation in this regard.
Cities of Samar Qand and Bukhara are the center of Islamic history, culture and civilization. We are constructing new places near these cities for the tourists who need modern services of hospitality for food and stay there.
Mr Hamid Mehmood later invited the participants for questions and suggestions.
Travel Expert Mr. Zubair Ahmed threw light on how to increase the contacts between the two countries.
Khawajah Muhammad Mohsin Munawar Yousafi Naqshbandi, the famous Sufi Pir from Lahore said that he has twice visited the holy shrines of Uzbekistan. He shared his experiences and observations with the participants. He told that he is writing a book on UZBEKISTAN in which he is putting detail information about the Ziyarats of Uzbekistan. He appreciated the work done by Uzbek Government for the promotion of Ziyarat tourism. He said the joint efforts are needed to let our new generation know about Islam.
Editor Tazeen Akhtar, noting the long grave attributed to Prophet Danial, shared his knowledge about long graves in his city Jalal Pur Jattan District Gujrat and also in nearby town of Bareela Shareef. He said that there are a number of long graves in our area. Some of them are also said to be of prophets. He further said that as at that time there was not the technology and materials available to construct the tombs, people would make the grave as much long as the resting soul was found as much pious.
Dr Tariq, the coordinator of university students’ visits to Uzbekistan also took part in the discussion. He said that youth of Pakistan needs to be apprised of Islamic scholars who paved the way for the latest inventions by doing the basic research and saving the knowledge in their books.
Here it is worth mentioning that Ambassador Furqatbek Sidiq himself are visiting educational institutions like he had a meeting with Rector NUML university last week. He is disseminating the information about Uzbekistan and the heritage of knowledge to attract the youth especially the university students to visit his country.
It was indeed a very informative session in which various aspects of bilateral cooperation and development of people to people relations came under discussion. The guests had Iftaar dinner at the end of the conference.
