Interfaith Harmony

Pakistan is a heaven for Buddhist tourism. Its land and people charm with traces of history, generous hospitality and brotherly warmth
24/01/2020

In conversation with Reverend Dr. Neung Hur a Buddhist Monk on Religious Pilgrimage to Pakistan Many people don’t know that Pakistan as a land of Gandhara is like Mecca – the holy place of Islam – for the Buddhist community. Swat is also the birthplace of Padmasambhava who is universally celebrated as the Second Buddha, reincarnated in the 8th century AD. There are several leading ancient philosophers from Peshawar, Swat and Taxila, who...

Defeating Terrorism to Promoting Tourism: Pakistan’s Promise for Cultural Diplomacy
29/12/2019

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts,” wrote famous American writer Mark Twain in his 1869 travel book, The Innocents Abroad. Pakistan was a prominent tourist destination in the days of overland journey connecting Pakistan with its Asian neighbors in the 1960-70s. The “hippie trail” brought thousands of travelers from Western Europe and America to...

Branding Taxila as a Gateway to Religious Tourism
29/12/2019

Today, the town of Taxila is a sprawling urban center with bustling bazars and multi-story plazas. It is a nationally known industrial hub of heavy machines and ordnance factories, as well as a center of small cottage and household industries of stoneware and pottery. The unplanned and unchecked urbanization and industrialization of Taxila Valley, fanning out in the foothills of Margalla hills, poses a direct threat to the historical value...

The Road Less Traveled: The Buddhist Religious Tourism of Pakistan
29/12/2019

Pakistan is comparatively a young country, yet it is a land of ancient civilizations, comparable in antiquity to the Egyptian and Sumerian. Despite being an Islamic republic, Pakistan respects the historic legacy of pre-Islamic civilizations. Buddhism is one of those world religions that have spawned an ancient civilization, whose footprints are spread all over Pakistan. From the hilltops of Kashmir to the valleys of Swat and Peshawar, from the...