[Walk in the Park] Pakistani envoy touts country's beauty from K2 to rolling Deosai plains

Home to five of the world’s 14 highest mountains, Pakistan boasts some of the most pristine mountaineering locations that leave its many travelers with unforgettable memories. Hikers who visited the trails on the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush and...

Deosai National Park in Pakistan [SHUTTERSTOCK]

Home to five of the world’s 14 highest mountains, Pakistan boasts some of the most pristine mountaineering locations that leave its many travelers with unforgettable memories.

Hikers who visited the trails on the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas will know that there are still dozens of other peaks to scale in the country in addition to the K2.

But perhaps lesser known is the country's 358,400 hectares of flat land — about six times the size of Seoul — in the middle of these mountain ranges, with undulating plains and rolling hills, perfect for camping under a star-speckled sky.

“The area is named Deosai in our language, it means a resting place for spirits,” Nabeel Munir, ambassador of Pakistan to Korea, said when he recently sat down to speak with the Korea JoongAng Daily at his diplomatic residence in Seoul.

The Deosai National Park, an area protected for its Himalayan brown bear population, has been on the pending list of Unesco World Heritage sites since 2016, and is characterized by its flat terrain at a high altitude.

Located off the beaten path — quite literally, given there are no constructed roads in the area to keep with the state policy on leaving the region untouched — only jeeps are able to travel to the plains.

The Korea JoongAng Daily recently sat down for an interview with Munir to hear more about the natural and historic wonders of Pakistan.

Nabeel Munir, ambassador of Pakistan to Korea, speaks with the Korea JoongAng Daily at the diplomatic residence in Seoul. [PARK SANG-MOON]

━ Deosai National Park

The sense of peace and tranquility in the air at Deosai National Park may not do complete justice to the history the region has seen.

The plains of the park being an anomaly to the region’s general terrain, mostly marked by steep mountains and narrow mountain corridors, the location would often serve as a battlefield between warring powers.

Today, the location is still very close to the line of control that divides the Indian and Pakistani territories of Kashmir.

“Thankfully, this part of the border has generally been peaceful,” said Munir.

In addition to the Himalayan brown bears, the park is also home to lynx, snow leopards, the Himalayan ibex, golden marmots and grey wolves.

Because of the high altitude, the area is filled with wildflowers and shrubs as opposed to taller trees.

Travelers are recommended to visit the park during the summer, as heavy snowfall in the winter could lead to dangerous travel conditions. Travel to the park is possible via jeep, and taking one from Skardu takes about an hour.

Although the Pakistani government began protecting the wildlife in the area after designating it a national park in 1993, its enlistment on Unesco would give further impetus not only to the Pakistani government but international efforts to protect the area.

━ Climate change and sustainability

The ravaging effects of the climate disaster that hit Pakistan in the summer of 2022 was another wake-up call regarding the urgent need for a climate agenda and the incapacity of a single country to resolve the transnational issue.

“A third of the whole country was under water,” said Munir, emphasizing that this area was equal to about two and a half times the size of South Korea.

Victims of heavy flooding from monsoon rains wait to receive relief aid from the Pakistani Army in the Qambar Shahdadkot district of Sindh Province, Pakistan, on Sept. 9, 2022. [AP/YONHAP]

Munir, posted to Korea as head of Pakistan’s diplomatic mission in Seoul in March last year, stepped into the role of the lead negotiator for the Pakistani delegation at the annual climate conference at the United Nations, the COP 27, in Egypt last November.

It had already been a few months since the deadly flood, but the 33 million Pakistanis affected by the disaster were far from done dealing with the aftereffects from the crisis, with many still displaced and young children becoming malnourished.

The conference in Egypt concluded with an agreement to create a “loss and damage” fund to help developing countries stricken by climate disasters. The fund was hailed by many leaders of these nations, including the climate change minister of Pakistan, Sherry Rehman, who called the fund “a down payment on investment in our futures.”

“In the case of Pakistan’s flood, the total amount of money that would be required for rebuilding was calculated to be around $16 billion to $17 billion,” Munir said. “So the fund would be about partially providing for needs such as this.”

Sherry Rehman, minister of climate change for Pakistan, attends a news conference on loss and damage finance inaction at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit on Nov. 17, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. [AP/YONHAP]

Although Pakistan is not a traditional main contributor of greenhouse gas emissions, it is still looking to take part in the global efforts to slow down the speed of global warming — and partnering with Korea on electric vehicles is one of its strategies, the envoy said.

The South Asian country aims to transform its energy industry and have at least 30 percent of its total vehicles driven in the nation be electric by 2030.

“This is a very ambitious target, as we don’t have as many EVs as you do in Korea,” Munir said.

It also plans to expand its reliance on hydropower, which was traditionally the No. 1 source for electricity generation, before industrialization expanded its reliance on coal and petrol.

Pakistan and Korea have worked on constructing several hydropower plants in recent years, with ongoing projects still.

━ Shalimar Gardens

A set of Mughal gardens nestled in Lahore beckon some of the largest numbers of tourists in the country every year.

“The Shalimar gardens are one of the landmarks built by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who is also called the engineer king because he built a lot of beautiful monuments in the subcontinent,” said Munir.

The vast water gardens dating back to 1641 are located in Lahore, which served as the empire’s cultural capital from the mid-16th century to the mid-18th century.

Keeping to the usual characteristics of Mughal gardens, the Shalimar gardens also come in a rectilinear layout, with a large body of flowing water and as many as 410 fountains.

Shalimar Gardens in Lahore, Pakistan [SHUTTERSTOCK]

“The waterworks were designed so that there would be enough pressure to have the water flow and circulate throughout the gardens, without relying on the use of electricity,” Munir said.

Inspired by the terraced lawns he saw in Kashmir, Shah Jahan designed the gardens on three terraces.

The king and his family would rest at the top terrace while the king’s guests would enjoy the middle terrace, with court musicians performing from time to time atop a marble terrace built in the center of a pond. The bottom terrace would be open to the public.

Each terrace would hold trees ranging from cypresses and almond trees to orange, mango and plum trees.

Hints that the Mughal civilization was a mix of Islamic, Persian, Hindu and Mongol influences are also apparent in the gardens and its structures.

“The basic structure is based on Persian architecture, and the gardens carry a spiritual meaning, as a type of link between this world and the next," Munir said. "Muslims believe in the existence of a paradise in the next world, and that the paradise would be in the form of a garden."

Similar garden designs could be found in classical Timurid gardens also found in parts of Central Asia.

The gardens, with Lahore Fort located some 7 kilometers (4 miles) away, were listed as a Unesco World Heritage site in 1981.

Munir recommends visitors to Lahore try to get at least five days in the city, as it can offer them a variety of sightseeing for both historical and cultural adventures.

A visit to the Lahore Fort can be planned together with a visit to the Badshahi Mosque, which is one of the biggest mosques in the world that can accommodate up to 100,000 people at once.

For a more modern look of the city, he recommends the Minar-e-Pakistan, a minaret placed to remember the political gathering at the location in 1940 that called for the official creation of Pakistan, during the time when Pakistan was part of the British India. The minaret was designed so that a bird’s-eye view of it would resemble that of a rose.

For the history buffs, the city also holds the Tomb of Jahangir, the fourth Mughal emperor, and the Tomb of Anarkali, a woman whom legends say was beloved by Jahangir but whose romantic relationship never came to fruition, and also some historical Buddhist relics including the “Fasting Buddha” statue, a Gandharan masterpiece, which can be found inside the Lahore Museum.

BY ESTHER CHUNG [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]