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Editorial context By Naila Inayat Imagine travelling to Zurich from Lahore via train, like Kajol's character does from London to Zurich, in one of Bollywood's most successful films that attach romantic notions with a railway station. Experts believe that Pakistan can connect its rail system with Europe, India, Turkey and Iran. Some even see it as a godsend opportunity for the organisation to buy back its lost magic. Train
tourism situation By Aziz Omar The Indian Railway system evokes images of romantic places, picturesque countryside, oriental palaces and vast tropical forests. A number of movies, such as The Darjeeling Limited, loosely based on the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in West Bengal, have depicted the ever-changing landscape of India and its numerous peoples and cultures. Having being around for more than a century and a half, the remnant of India's British colonial past is recognised as being the country's socio-economic backbone. "The real issue is very low investment in
this sector" By Shaiq Hussain The News on Sunday: Pakistan Railways is confronted with grave crises, including the crunch in the form of the huge deficit of Rs 23 billion annually. It is feared that the entity could grind to a halt in the next three or four years if the situation remains the same and adequate steps are not taken by the government to address the issue?
This Special Report is not about the recent announcement of suspension of train services across various routes, as some would think, or about how the common man gets affected by this announcement. It is not about ticketless passengers either. No this Special Report is not about Pakistan Railways as a loss-making entity that would justify its redundancy. Nor does this make a case for or against privatisation of Pakistan Railways. It is in fact the untold story of Pakistan Railways that we have wanted to share for a long time. The suspension of trains just provided an excuse. It is a long story of which a few passenger trains suspended here and there form just a part. Entire routes, some of them the choicest and the most beautiful, have been closed what to talk of a few train services. Railways were just never a priority in this country and like many other functioning institutions from pre-partition times we let this one become dysfunctional. Ever since the first five year plan was devised for this country, road network was given a priority. Of course rehabilitating the railways was costly and capital intensive but the long term benefits were immense. But here too we thought short-term. And the story of continuous decline began. We did nothing to refurbish the tracks or locomotives or rolling stock. The railway workshops remained repair workshops while our next-door neighbour switched from imports to actually manufacturing locomotives locally. But, as said earlier, our priorities were skewed. Railways, we forgot, is an infrastructure that runs an economy. Ideally, it is not supposed to be a profit-making enterprise; it should lead to huge dividends for the economy. And within the service, it is the goods traffic that earns the profit while the passenger trains are almost always subsidised. But whatever attention we paid to in all these years was in passenger trains while the goods traffic was virtually shifted to roads and trucks. Few people know that we owe our stupendous fuel import bills to goods trade through roads. The cost of a redundant railway for the country's economy is permanently lost on the policy-makers it seems. This Special Report aims to make them aware that railways must be saved at all costs. It is time to think long term even if it means huge investments. Pakistan Railways has huge potential if there is willingness to open new communication links -- from Iran to Central Asia, of acting as a gateway between Europe and India, of setting up and reviving train tourism. The potential must be explored.
Journey of the Railways Early planners decided to place Railways on the back burner, preferring to invest in the road network instead By Sarwat Ali Pakistan Railways was part of the greater network of rail transport laid over successive decades all over the subcontinent from the middle of the nineteenth century up till 1947. Very little additions have been made to the network since then. The Railways was the first fast means of communication in the world. It liberated man from his symbiotic relationship with the animal. Beasts were the standard form of transport for man and material, starting with the horse, the camel, the elephant, the donkey and, of course, the bull. It revolutionised the concept of transport, turned week's travels into days and days into hours. It reduced distances and imposed a standard time. The clock became crucial taking into account not only hours but also minutes and seconds. In the Indian subcontinent, the lines that were laid were primarily for two purposes -- one economic and the other strategic. If the lines from the ports to upcountry were meant to deliver goods on time quicker than before, the strategic lines were meant to haul troops and armaments to the frontier to preempt the enemy's maneuvers. And, during the course of about a century, a very developed and complex railway network had been made fully operational contributing to the economic and defense needs of the sub continent. Both it's economic and defense needs were not formulated keeping the land mass of India in view but by upholding the ideals and requirements of the entire gamut of the British Empire. After the creation of Pakistan, the integrated network of Railways was divided into three sections -- the Western, the Eastern Railway of Pakistan and the Indian network. The deteriorating relationship between the two countries meant that the integrated network started to operate in isolation from each other. No real attempt was made to link the rail network between East and West Pakistan via the existing network through India. The early planners of Pakistan decided to place Railways on the back burner, instead preferring investment in the road network. One wonders what made them do so or what justification was given, but it resulted in Railways never receiving the priority that it was due. It was decided to invest in newer sectors, not refurbish and expand the existing system which was in place and working smoothly. The defense and strategic lines were no longer needed because these were perceived as extraneous to the defense needs of Pakistan. These lines started to fall into disuse while the commercial lines were made to compete in an uneven playing field with a rapidly developing road sector. The heavy capital investment needed to upgrade and expand the railways was seen as an impediment while the development economists placed more emphasis on the road network. As the years went by, Railways started to lag behind and soon had to grapple with fundamental issues like aging infrastructure and obsolete technology of locomotives and signaling systems. No real effort was made to manufacture locomotives at home, even through a deletion process, and there was hardly any transfer of technology. As the fuel costs went up, the plans to switch the Railways over to electricity also received a setback as the growing energy needs of the country fell hopelessly short of the overall demand of the economy. Even on the sections with electric power diesel electric locomotives were made to ply. The assets of the Railways such as the real estate was steadily encroached upon by squatters and real estate mafias and the successive governments never had the power or the will to vacate these lands. Huge swathes of land have been illegally occupied throughout the length and breadth of the country and every passing day consolidates that illegal possession. Poor governmental controls, erosion of faith in the government, continuous breach of discipline and deteriorating service conditions, the story of governance in the country has been equally shared by the Railways. Lack of accountability and outside interference lowered the efficiency bar of the employees who started to view their service either as pension like minimum security cover or a stepping stone for personal profit. The freight traffic which had been the backbone of the Railway's long haul strategy started to lose out to other means of transport. The time it took to transport goods upcountry from the port and the issue of safety of these goods started to become critical issues. The system of working out the actual cost of transport was always tampered with other considerations than those of commerce and efficiency. Being a state-run organisation Railways was perceived as a public service, the fares were held far below the actual expenditure incurred and the urgency of the government to give employment to the people made it similar to other public sector institutions, a dumping ground for semi-literate and semi-skilled manpower. The hiring and firing too was taken away from the management of the Railways. It received a fatal blow when its monopoly of lifting goods from the port was challenged by the National Logistic Cell (NLC) on the premise of clearing the goods in record time. It ate into Railway traffic and pushed it further down the road of backwardness and redundance. For whatever reason NLC was formed it operated with gusto during the Afghan War, dealing a deadly blow to the Railways. Both were placed under one minister with preferences given to the NLC. The Railways, despite being treated in the step-motherly manner, has lingered on while the NLC has dwindled away. When the ambitious Motorway project was launched with the then estimated cost of Rs24 billion, the Railways gave a counter offer of upgrading its entire infrastructure in just Rs10 billion. The entire Highways network of the country too could be upgraded at the estimated cost of about Rs10 billion. But the dice was cast in favour of the Motorway. Instead of the estimated Rs24 billion ended up by costing a whopping Rs42 billion. Railways had never received the attention that it deserved. The policy makers and the rulers have been led by flashy slogans of opening new projects that make banner headlines rather than improve and expand on the existing ones. The donor agencies too have had their own set of preferences which the policy makers at home have not convincingly been able to balance with their own set of priorities. The result being that the Railways has received infusion from time to time but these have not been according to any integrated plan resulting in patchworks and not helping the cause of the system on the whole. With aging infrastructure, lack of new investment and over employment it faces an even grimmer future. Trains are a cheap form of transport for men and material and in today's world very ecological friendly. But the need to make massive capital investments in the upgradation and introduction of latest technologies have proved to be deterrents. There is still plenty of wisdom in investing in the existing infrastructure, upgrading and expanding it than be taken in by the rush of new fangled initiatives.
Experts believe now is the time for the department to buy back its lost magic By Naila Inayat Imagine travelling to Zurich from Lahore via train, like Kajol's character does from London to Zurich, in one of Bollywood's most successful films that attach romantic notions with a railway station. Experts believe that Pakistan can connect its rail system with Europe, India, Turkey and Iran. Some even see it as a godsend opportunity for the organisation to buy back its lost magic. "We've already started a trial run from Islamabad to Istanbul, basically to transport cargo. From August 14 this year, Pakistan Railways is all set to launch Islamabad-Tehran-Istanbul international freight train service," says Sami ul Haq Khilji, Chairman Pakistan Railways, talking to TNS. "We are also working to establish rail links between Jalalabad and Torkham. The proposal of starting links with India is indeed tempting and Pakistan Railways doesn't have anything against it, but there are stakeholders who are hesitant for reasons that are quite believable. We can become a profitable organisation very soon if we start trade with India via train," he adds. All this would connect Pakistan with the outer world, but what about the mass transit system or the Karachi-circular railway? How can these work to salvage the organisation? According to Khilji, "Mass transit is purely a provincial subject. We are providing help on the Karachi-circular railway. But I strongly feel it will boost the Railways in a major way. "Private management should be used to enhance facilities at the stations, build new tracks and signals, upgrade locomotives to come up to the international standards, and hire professional financial managers to ensure operational efficiency. Today, our requirement is 100 locomotives whereas we are working with 30 [locomotives]," he says. Khilji also believes that commercialisation in collaboration with the provincial governments is the need of the hour. "The commercialisation of property can make things look bright. The government should support Railways just as the Indian government does. "Today, you have major structural problems within the organisation. Besides, you have to depend on freight only." He also announces that he is "the unwilling partner in the recent train stoppage".
Railways are among the more enduring legacies of the British Raj in the subcontinent By Salman Rashid Railways is among the more enduring legacies of the
British Raj in the subcontinent. There is virtually an inexhaustible body of
extremely interesting lore and history of the building of this great system
of transportation discussed in a few excellent books and in the esoteric
journals in the Punjab Archives. It is another story that the ignorant and
asinine bureaucrats do not permit access to that great treasure trove. Even if one has not read about the intricacies and heroism of the laying of the line from, say, Ruk (near Shikarpur) to Sibi, one can still stand on the platform of Ruk and wonder what the letters KSR and IVSR that adorn the façade in blue on white ceramic tiles mean. The lettering signifies that this little-known station was the junction of the Indus Valley State Railway coming up from Kotri and the new line to Quetta and Chaman called the Kandahar State Railway. As railway stations go, the all-time favourite for anyone should really be the quaintly turreted, mud-plastered station of Kan Mehtarzai. Sitting at 2,224 metres above the sea, on the narrow-gauge Zhob Valley Railway (ZVR) between Bostan and Zhob, this was the highest train station in Pakistan. Once railwaymen told hair-raising tales of those lovely toy trains becoming snow-bound in winter. There were particularly hairy stories of the blizzards during the 1970s and one can imagine how anxiety making a journey on ZVR could be. After this service was suspended in 1986, Kan Mehtarzai
was forgotten. For many years, the line and other bits of infrastructure
remained in place, but in 2008, all steel fittings were auctioned and
removed. This is Pakistan Railways' highest line in terms of height about
sea level and surely there is some merit in revitalising it at least from
Bostan as far as Kan Mehtarzai. In Balochistan, too, there is what its builders labelled 'The Lonely Line'. This is the line that travellers ride on their way to Iran. It was lonely because back in 1916 when they first started to lay it, they would go a hundred and fifty kilometres between villages. The sand and gravel desert that the line wended its way was littered with the bleached bones of camels and horses. Today, as one rides the irregular service or drives on the highway parallel to the line, one passes by deserted and ruined railway stations that are already being overtaken by the desert that had once made way for them. On the subject of the attraction of railway stations, one
simply cannot neglect Attock Khurd. A little doll's house of a building with
a pitched red roof and sitting under the crenulated turrets of the
magnificent Attock Bridge, it belongs to a film set. Without doubt this is
the most picturesque railway station in the entire country. If Pakistan Station buildings are not the only railway attraction, however. There are some magnificent bridges to be seen as well. My favourite is the remains of the Princess Louise Margaret Bridge in the Chhappar Rift, north of Sibi, in Balochistan. This line remained operational only for some six decades and was dismantled in the summer of 1942. But when it ran, it was the first connection between the Sindh plains and Quetta in the hills. The line through the Bolan Pass came four decades after its launch. Then there are the very picturesque spans of line from Attock to Daudkhel. Though they all merit a visit, the winner among them is the superlative piece of construction across the Soan River. If the Louise Margaret bridge was once the highest in Pakistan (65 metres above the riverbed), the Soan Bridge now holds the honour. Of bridges there is no death, however. The little known
Victoria Bridge across Jhelum on the line from Malakwal to Gharibwal and
Khewra is a treat for the ordinary tourist as well as the students of
architecture. It is no exaggeration that its handsome criss-cross of red
girders forming the flat arch above and the parallel lines below make a
fantastic study of shapes for the artist and photographer. One thing that we can be eternally thankful to railway managers for is the rehabilitation of Golra station and its conversion into a railway heritage museum. Lying just outside Islamabad, it is within easy reach of all. Within its walls it preserves an array of railway memorabilia ranging from crockery to signalling equipment and clocks to ceiling fans, platform furniture and other equipment. On the platform outside sits a metre gauge carriage that was once the private saloon of the Maharana of Jodhpur.
So far so bad Railways needs immediate financial support to stay on track By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed Pakistan Railways -- once the prime transporter of cargo and passengers alike -- is in dire straits and calls for an immediate financial support and reform to avoid collapse it is facing. For decades, this huge state-owned corporation is
confronted with losses worth billions of rupees mainly due to mismanagement,
corruption and overstaffing in the organisation. The importance of this organisation can be gauged from the fact that it carries an average of 178,000 people daily or 65 million passengers annually on a route length that measures 8,163 kilometres, at comparatively affordable rates. Besides, it transports around 5 percent of the total cargo (6 million tonnes) destined for different parts of the country at rates much cheaper than those charged by road transporters. This ratio was much higher in the early decades after the partition but with the passage of time the Railways kept on losing its share to other means of transport. Pakistan Railways is also a major public sector employer as it pays salaries to around 79,000 employees and pension to thousands of its former employees. The payments made under these two heads stand at Rs14 billion and Rs7 billion per annum respectively. As per an announcement made by the Minister for Railways, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, on National Assembly's floor, Pakistan faced losses worth Rs15.03 billion during the fiscal year of 2007-08 and Rs18.6 billion in fiscal 2008-09. Though the government granted a subsidy of Rs7.30 billion to the Pakistan Railways in 2007-08, and financial support to the tune of Rs9.03 billion in 2008-09, the assistance had little impact on the overall performance of the organisation. Unable to bear the burgeoning financial losses, the Railways authorities planned to suspend more than 100 passengers and mail trains which, they say, were running in constant losses. Another purpose, authorities say, was to free locomotives and use them to operate cargo trains which could not be run due to the shortage of engines. According to Pakistan Railways documents, the corporation needs 250 fully fit locomotives for operation as against a demand of 500 locomotives to maintain the current operation and additional 300 locomotives to meet the targets set by the Railways to lift at least 25 percent of the cargo available in the market. The situation so far is so bad that the railways failed to move even a single freight train from Port Qasim for the upcountry during the first three weeks of July due to non-availability of engines. Presently, about 200 locomotives, out of which a majority is of US/Japan origin and 30 of Chinese origin, are held up for repair or overhauling. The repair and overhauling have suffered because of the non-availability of requisite spare parts and lack of funds. The importers who had booked containers for the transportation of their goods had to face hefty demurrages, as they could not return them in time. The fact that road transporters can ensure timely delivery goods make them the first choice of customers. Pakistan Railways Minister Bilour holds National Logistic Cell (NLC) responsible for the loss of cargo business that the organisation once had. NLC, formed in late 1970s and operated by the Pakistan Army, lifts most of the cargo and transports it through road networks. The Railways minister has demanded Rs200 billion from the government to improve the railways infrastructure. In a recent statement, he cited Indian Railways' example which has recorded huge profits in the last couple of years saying India had not made NLC and their trains were used for cargo service across the country. Pakistan Railways did raise fares by 25 percent in 2007-2008 and 15 percent each year thereafter, but it is still unable to turn its losses into profit. One reason for this is that the number of people who travel without tickets is constantly on the rise and there is no check on this practice. Besides, corruption and mismanagement have permeated every department of this organisation as is obvious from the Auditor-General of Pakistan's report issued this year. The report has unearthed irregularities worth Rs7.749 billion in the Board and Infrastructure Business Unit of Pakistan Railways as the rules were set aside in awarding contracts, acceptance of tender, recovery of toll tax, expenditure, booking, employment, land-usage charges and awarding of city booking agencies. In a bid to improve the situation, the Cabinet Committee on Restructuring (CCoR) of Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) has outlined the initial restructuring plan of the Railways under which it should be separated into four separate companies -- Passenger, Freight, Manufacturing and Asset Management Company. Last but not the least, Pakistan Railways needs to retrieve its land illegally occupied by individuals as well as government departments. At present, over 3,000 acres of railway land is under illegal occupation by individuals, whereas more than 1,000 acres have been occupied by various provincial and federal governments departments. The total area of the encroached railways' land stands at 4,231 acres. A major part of the illegally occupied land is located in Lahore where the organisation is struggling to free 1,839 acres from land grabbers. The said area stands around 333 acres in Quetta, 246 in Karachi, 238 in Sukkur, 212 in Multan, 169 in Peshawar and 35 in Rawalpindi.
Having being around for more than a century and a half, the remnant of British colonial past is recognised as India's socio-economic backbone By Aziz Omar The Indian Railway system evokes images of romantic
places, picturesque countryside, oriental palaces and vast tropical forests.
A number of movies, such as The Darjeeling Limited, loosely based on the
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in West Bengal, have depicted the ever-changing
landscape of India and its numerous peoples and cultures. Having being
around for more than a century and a half, the remnant of India's British
colonial past is recognised as being the country's socio-economic backbone. Stretching more than sixty-three thousand kilometres, the Indian railway system transports around 20 million passengers daily in 9,000 trains. It is also one of the largest employers in the world and has more than 1.6 million people in its service. In major metropolises such as Mumbai, the urban railway system transports around 7 million passengers most of whom are workers from outside the city itself. The association of the dabbawalas or the lunch-box deliverers has been awarded a Six Sigma certification by Forbes, based on their ability to deliver 200,000 lunchboxes daily to workers within Mumbai from their homes without messing up more than 3 orders for every million delivered. The actual error rate is much lower, at only 1 in 16 million transactions, and is largely due to the Mumbai trains' timing and punctuality as they are the primary mode of getting the plethora of lunch boxes to their destinations. However, the Indian Railways is not without its fair share of accidents, mishaps, terrorist attacks, mismanagement and failures. Just this year so far, close to 300 people have been killed in a series of collisions, derailments and explosions. The Indian Railways in 1990s and early 2000s was besotted with financial losses. Experts attributed them mostly to the then government's attitude of diverting freight traffic to road based transporters and stated that it would go bankrupt by 2016. But the year 2005-06 witnessed a major turnaround for the Indian Railways, courtesy of the respective minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav. The fund balance that had touched a low Rs2.75 billion (in Pak rupees) was boosted to Rs220 billion. The loss making entity's profits soared to Rs360 billion (in Pakistani rupees) despite cuts in passenger fares. This was primarily due to the focus on enhancing the freight capabilities which now stand at 2 million tons a day and contribute over 70 percent to the overall revenue, thus compensating for the losses in the subsidised passenger sector. But the transportation period of goods containers can extend to over two weeks from a seaport to a city such as Delhi whereas having taken only five days to be brought over sea from, say, Singapore and at one-third the cost. There are reform packages on the cards to further upgrade the Indian rail system, such as the introduction of freight wagons that would run at 100km/hr and high-speed bullet trains for passengers that will clock up to 350 km/hr up from current speeds of 150 km/hr accompanied with satellite based navigation. However, the current fiscal year's profits of the Indian Railways have fallen to Rs17 billion (Pak rupees) and it remains to be seen whether the proposed budget of Rs745 billion will help to fire up the profits and accomplish the futuristic goals. "The real issue is very low investment in this sector" -- Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, Federal Minister of Railways By Shaiq Hussain The News on Sunday: Pakistan Railways is confronted with grave crises, including the crunch in the form of the huge deficit of Rs 23 billion annually. It is feared that the entity could grind to a halt in the next three or four years if the situation remains the same and adequate steps are not taken by the government to address the issue? Ghulam Ahmad Bilour: Yes, Railways is plagued with grave
financial problems but that doesn't mean its operations will be stopped
completely. When we talk about the deficit, let me remind you that this
entity is meant to be a welfare body and that financial loss has hit the
entire world barring India which has been striving to improve its rail
system since partition. Secondly, in India, the transportation of anything belonging to the government such as wheat, cement, fertilizer and other goods in trucks or vehicles other than the trains is illegal. The Indians have strengthened their rail system instead of roads but in our country it's the other way round. When Pakistan came into being, almost 90 percent of goods from Karachi to other parts of country were transported by trains and now that has been reduced to only 10 percent. Another apt example is that of Lahore-Islamabad motorway which was built after the acquirement of massive land worth billions of rupees but no one thought about the upgradation of rail track from Lahore to Rawalpindi. The track that we are using now is operational since 1860 and still the people ask us about the poor performance of railways. TNS: How do you think these problems could be solved? Besides, have you prepared any plan to steer the railways away from the verge of collapse? GHB: People talk about mismanagement and corruption in railways; I won't deny it completely but these problems are in every Pakistani organization. The real issue is that of very low investment in this key sector. We have gigantic problems at hand but the financial resources are too low to enable us to cope with the situation. Take the case of employees' pension, which is around 7 billion rupees. The pension of every other official entity is paid by the government but in our case it's the ministry that has to arrange for the pension. They give it to army, police and others then why are we excluded. When I took charge, we had 92 locomotives for freight purposes and that too decades old and now we have around 40 such locomotives that are functional. We have no money to buy even spare parts for them. We were promised by the former finance minister Shaukat Tareen that Rs.5 billion would be given to repair the locomotives and address other financial issues that required immediate attention but he resigned and the money never came in. Since then we have been waiting to present the railways' revamping plan to the prime minister but we have yet to be given the time for meeting. What we at the railways need is a bailout package as promised by Prime Minister Gillani. What is required is a prompt implementation of the package. TNS: What is the ministry doing to vacate the thousands of acres of illegally occupied land? Isn't the land in the possession of different provincial departments? GHB: The provinces claim that the vast swathes of land that belong to railways are theirs. The provincial governments say that the lands were actually given by them to railways and now those which are not used by the ministry [of Railways] must be in their possession. However, I am in close contact with the chief ministers, especially Mian Shahbaz Sharif and Syed Qaim Ali Shah, to resolve the contentious issue. After thorough discussions, it has been agreed upon that the provinces and railways would retain 50 percent of the entire land that the ministry has long been asking for. Now the modalities are being worked out to settle the problem in line with the agreed formula of half share of land. TNS: The closure of some of the passenger trains has evoked a strong reaction from the masses. What made you take this unpopular decision? GHB: See, the decision to close down some passenger trains operating on shorter routes was aimed at reducing the huge financial loss incurred by the ministry. These locomotives could, however, be used to run goods trains and passenger trains on long routes. My organisation is faced with a loss of Rs2 billion per annum on the routes closed for the short-distance trains. The people prefer to use other modes of transportation. TNS: Why not privatise the entity, if the government or your ministry is not able to run the railways on profitable basis? Why the ruling classes are opposed to this idea? GHB: In principle, we have no problem with the privatisation of railways but whoever from the private sector will come forward, given the current situation? We are under a huge debt of Rs40 billion of the State Bank and we pay Rs4 billion worth interest on that every year. Besides, what would become of the thousands of rail workers who will be removed from their services once private control is assumed? Instead, someone from outside the government could come and run their own trains on our tracks that we are ready to make available for them. In response to this offer only the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry people have showed interest to run their train from Karachi to Lahore. Let's hope this works out well. TNS: It has been widely reported in the media that the Chinese locomotives purchased by the ministry of railways are faulty and that huge kickbacks were involved on the part of those at the helm of affairs during the General (retd) Musharraf's rule. If the Chinese locomotives are of no good use, why don't you opt for the ones from Japan? GHB: We have also had Japanese locomotives in the past but they too were not up to the mark. The only reliable locomotives are the ones from America. But if we opt for them everybody will say why did we ignore the Chinese product? Aren't we allies with China? The comparatively high price of American locomotives is also an issue.
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Railways has been neglectful of its heritage on the whole, it has redeemed
itself by turning Attock into a tourist destination.
