US filmmaker for discovering Pakistan’s amazing tourist destinations

Shangrila Resort SkarduPhoto Credit: Zaeem Siddiq via Wikimedia Commons

An American documentary maker says Pakistan’s tourist attractions should be a destination for American visitors who want to explore the country’s natural beauty and traditional hospitality of its people.

Cynthia Ritchie from Texas, who is currently working on a documentary on Pakistan, urged travelers to include the country in their list of destinations and experience its vibrancy.

Speaking at a Pakistan Day event in Chicago on Thursday,  Ritchie said during her visits to the amazing tourist attractions she has had pleasant experience of living and working there.

A large number of Pakistani-Americans participated in the event. Also attending were senior elected officials as well as over twenty Chicago-based Consuls General.

According to the Pakistani Consulate, special messages marking the Pakistan Day were issued by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Mayor Roger Claar of Bolingbrook.

Pakistan’s Consul General Faisal Niaz Tirmizi spoke on his country’s emerging economy, especially its expanding cement, steel, automobile and banking industries, a fact acknowledged by MSCI while graduating Pakistan from its frontier market to emerging market index.

Pakistan, he said, has a middle class of 84 million which was more than the size of Germany or Turkey, he said according to a statement. Also, Pakistan was among a few countries which had pushed back the tide of extremism and bigotry.

Tirmizi also praised the role of dynamic Pakistani-American community in fostering good bilateral relations between Pakistan and United States.

He particularly applauded US$ 15 million endowment gifted by a Pakistani-American couple — Rafat and Zoreen Ansari — to University Notre Dame in Indiana to establish a center to improve understanding between different religions.

The consul general appreciated the role of prominent Pakistani-Americans like Dr. Jamil Tajik who was the personal physician of former President Ronald Regan, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and King Hussein of Jordan. He also mentioned Salman Amin, Chief Operating Officer of SC & Johnson and Mehmood Khan, Chief Technical Officer of PepsiCo.