960427

'Pak flag hoisted

at Poles be kept in

national museum'

LAHORE: Dr. Arif Ali Chaudhry, FRCS, the first and the only Pakistani having honour to stand at 90 degrees at the North and South poles, has appealed to the ministry of tourism to preserve and keep in a national museum the national flags which he had hoisted for the first time on the North and South poles as the same formed the part of country's history.

Dr. Arif, 62 a famous surgeon who is now settled in UK, was one of the 24 adventurers of an expedition to South Pole representing different parts of the world, who successfully undertook the most challenging and difficult journey to South Pole which continued from December 24,1995 to January 17, 1996.

Dr.Arif currently on a short visit to pakistan, in a press release here today, also asked the government to consider the prospects of accession to the Antarctic Treaty as this membership would bring great honour to Pakistan.

He said he had also successfully completed a journey across the Arctic Ocean to the Geographic North Pole in July 1994 at 90 degrees North on board the russian Nuclear Icebreaker called 'Yamal'.

Dr. Arif said that according to the data collected by him, not more than 5000 people from all over the world, mostly crew of ships and aircraft, had reached the North Pole since 1956. A comparison with similar records for the South Pole showed that till January this year, he was one of the 200 adventurers of the world who have so far stood on the South Pole.

Next year, Dr. Arif Chaudhry is planning to make his next journey in the shape of an american-organized expedition which is proposing to visit around sixteen countries which are off the beaten track of an average tourist.-APP