You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
India-Pakistan
Abbottabad Plans Theme Park
2013-02-05
Let the snark begin
Plans to build a £19m amusement park in the town where Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces have been revealed.
Pakistan is living on loans and charity. Where is the money to come from?
Goodness, you really have to ask? Uncle Sugar will provide!
Officials in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province hope the project will boost tourism but denied it was intended to improve the town's image after the bin Laden raid. The al Qaeda terrorist was killed by US Navy Seals at his compound in the town on May 2, 2011.
"Mom! Mom! Can we go to Obamaland? Can we? Huh? Can we?"
"The amusement city will be built on 50 acres in the first phase but later will be extended to 500 acres," Syed Aqil Shah, the provincial minister for tourism and sports, said. "It will have a heritage park, wildlife zoo, food street, adventure and paragliding clubs, waterfalls and jogging tracks."
How about a shooting range?
All of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a shooting range, so no need to set up a special area. No doubt our beloved president can tell stories of shooting pheasant off the back veranda when he visited his roommate's family on his Indonesian passport, back in '81.
Work is due to begin in late February or early March and will take eight years to complete.
Eight years on a 50 acre park? We'd do that in a summer here.
Funds worth three billion rupees (£19m) have been allocated, he said.
"I wanna ride the Turban of Death! Can I? Huh, Mom?"
Abbottabad, a quiet, leafy town in the foothills of the Himalayas around 50km (30 miles) north of the capital Islamabad, has long been a popular spot for wealthier families to spend weekends away.

The town also houses Pakistan's elite military academy and the discovery of the world's most-wanted man on its doorstep prompted allegations of incompetence or complicity between the armed forces and the 9/11 mastermind.

But Mr Shah insisted the new development was simply about promoting tourism, not polishing the town's tarnished image.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
"This project has nothing to do with Osama bin Laden. We are working to promote tourism and amusement facilities in the whole province and this project is one of those facilities," he said.

The authorities demolished the compound where bin Laden hid with his wives and children last February, fearing it could become a shrine to al Qaeda followers.
Posted by:Beavis

#5  Saddam had similar "theme park" plans for Babylon. A Disney style monorail would speed tourists past the river, through the walled city, and off to the site of the tower. The tour would culminate at the museum and bookstore. Rightly or wrongly, Saddam was confident he was the reincarnate of King Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylon project and theme park appears to have been shelved.
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-02-05 11:33  

#4  Glowing Green Glass Land?

Forget Pakistain. They only thing they have going is lots of parking. Build it in Florida. There's a lot of folks would pay good money and stand in line for a change to shoot a robotronic bin Ladin in the face.
Posted by: SteveS   2013-02-05 11:22  

#3  Clowns and Fantasyland? Khyber Adventureland? Sounds appropriate. Tomorrowland will include a very pious and pure nuclear wasteland
Posted by: Frank G   2013-02-05 11:19  

#2  Mr. Ladin's Water Slide
The Hanging Garden of Infidels
Cycles of Violence
Its a Small Caliphate After All
Pirates of the Somaliland
Posted by: swksvolFF   2013-02-05 11:07  

#1  People's amusement park? Sounds like some sort of Obama pre-condition with an eight year pay-out.
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-02-05 01:55  

00:00