Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Mountaineering rules and regulationsTERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR GRANT OF PERMISSION TO MOUNTAINEERING EXPEDITION PARTIES FOR CLIMBING PEAKS IN PAKISTAN |
Note: The information contained in this publication has been corrected up to 1-1-1993. This information, is subject to modifications, alterations and relaxation. For any further information please contact the following organizations: | ||
(i) | Tourism Division, College Road, F-7/2 Sector, Islamabad. | |
(ii) | Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation, House No.2, Street No.61, F-7/4, Islamabad. | |
(iii) | Pakistan Embassies abroad. | |
(iv) | Pakistan International Airlines offices abroad. |
XI. PHOTOGRAPHY(i) Aerial Photography 53. Aerial photography of mountain peaks enroute to Northern Areas and Chitral is allowed after notifying the pilot of an aircraft or the Liaison Officer. (ii) Still Photography 54. A party shall not photograph the following objects during its stay in Pakistan:
(iii) Making of Commercial Film including T.V. 55. Subject to above, a party attempting a peak, situated in closed zone (i.e. 10 mile belt and 30 mile belt of Pakistan border with foreign countries) may take photographs / make films under the direct supervision of a L.O. 56. For this purpose, a party shall identify one member of its team as the photographer for shooting of a film of academic interest. If, however, a party wants to include in the team some professional photographers for shooting of a professional films, the professional photographer(s) in that case shall be accompanied by an additional L.O. under the same Terms and conditions as for the L.O. Under this arrangement, professional photographers shall not be allowed to break into units. 57. Export of such films out of Pakistan shall be allowed only after the L.O. has certified that defence installations and prohibited areas / places were not photographed. 58. A L.O. shall inform a party of the objects which are allowed to be photographed / filmed. If he is convinced that key / defence installations are being photographed, he shall forbid the photographer from taking such photographs or making such films. If a photographer does not comply with his advice, the matter shall be reported to police who shall proceed against such photographer under official Secrets Act, 1923. 59. Still photographs, commercial films and films of academic interest taken / made in rest of Pakistan shall not be subject to these restriction except restrictions mentioned at para 54 and 58. 60. Permission to photography is subject to the condition that a party shall supply to the Government of Pakistan free of cost and freight one copy / print of film of academic interest / commercial film made and one set of photograph taken. |
XII. JOINT EXPEDITION PARTIES(a) Foreign-cum-Pakistan party 61. A party assuming the nature of a joint expedition, which would include Pakistanis as climbers, shall get a discount of 50% on the amount of royalty. In this case the number of Pakistani climbers shall not be less than half of the total number of foreign members in a party including its leader. In special cases the Tourism Division may relax the number of Pakistanis to one-third of foreigners. 62. If, however, the said one third number cannot be mustered then there shall be no collaboration between a Pakistani party and a foreign party. 63. Particulars of Pakistani climbers, in five copies, shall be obtained on proforma at Annexure 'I' by a foreign party from any Pakistani Alpine Club which shall ensure that experienced climbers are nominated for the purpose on all Pakistan basis. These particulars shall then be attached to an application form. 64. Under these arrangements a leader shall be a foreigner while deputy leader shall be a Pakistani. (b) Pakistan-cum-Foreign party 65. A Pakistani party which may include in its expedition foreign national as members, shall pay 50% of the royalty chargeable for a peak proposed to be attempted. In this case the number of foreign climbers shall not exceed that of Pakistani climbers or be less than one-third of the total number of Pakistanis. However, a party having a single foreigner will stand exempted from the operation of this para. 66. Particulars of all foreign climbers shall be obtained by a Pakistani party on proforma at Annexure 'B' and supplied in five copies, alongwith an application form at Annexure 'A' to Tourism Division at least 4 months in advance of their arrival. 67. Under these arrangements a leader shall be a Pakistani while a deputy leader may be a foreigner. 68. A foreign-cum-Pakistani or a Pakistani-cum- foreign expedition party shall be accompanied by a L.O. 69. A party consisting of Pakistani climbers only shall, however, be exempt from payment of royalty. It shall, however, deposit with Tourism Division particulars of all the members, including the leader on proforma at Annexure 'I'. Pakistani expeditions need no L.O.'s. 70. Foreigners and Pakistanis climbing peaks under these arrangements shall be subject to relevant provisions of these Terms and Conditions wherever applicable. |
XIII. ACCIDENTS71. In case of accident / death of a member of a party, the leader shall notify the L.O. who shall report the matter to the nearest police station and get in touch with Deputy Commissioner of the area for any assistance that may be felt necessary. 72. If any assistance from the Pakistan Army is needed, the L.O. shall so inform the Deputy Commissioner who shall arrange such assistance. 73. If helicopter is needed, FCNA / Local Administration would arrange for the same, on payment basis. Mountaineering expeditions will guarantee rescue operation funds to the tune of US$ 4000 or provide guarantee from their respective Diplomatic Mission in Pakistan or an undertaking from Government approved Tour Operator failing which they will not be allowed to attempt peaks in Pakistan. 74. In case of death of a member, a L.O. shall obtain, necessary death certificate from local Deputy Commissioner before leaving the area. 75. In case of accident / death of a low / high altitude porter, action shall be taken on the above lines. In addition, a L.O. shall obtain from the Civil Surgeon concerned a certificate of his / their disablement / death for insurance purposes. 76. In case of injury / death of L.O. the leader shall inform the Deputy Commissioner of the area who, in turn, shall inform the army authorities / Tourism Division. |
XIV. FOREIGN EXCHANGE77. A party shall invariably encash Foreign Exchange from an authorised bank / money changer. For this purpose a certificate about the amount of Foreign Exchange surrendered shall be obtained from the said bank / authorised money changer. 78. Exchange booths of banks authorised to deal in Foreign Exchange at the exit points are authorised to reconvert upto Rs. 500 per person out of the unspent balance of Pak. Rupee obtained by encashment of foreign currency. For reconversion of the amount exceeding the said limit an office of the State Bank of Pakistan shall be approached through a bank authorised to deal in foreign exchange. 79. A party shall convert its foreign currency into Pak. Rupee at Rawalpindi / Islamabad which shall then be taken to Gilgit / Skardu and Chitral. A party may, however, deposit the surplus / reserve amount in a bank at the above mentioned places, before leaving for mountains. 80. Encashment of Foreign Exchange from anybody other than a bank or an authorised money changer is an offence under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947. |
XV. OBSERVANCE OF SECURITY AND CONDITIONS FOR PUBLICATION OF MATERIAL81. A party shall confine its activities to its objectives as declared in the application form. 82. A party shall not indulge in any activity that might offend the religious sentiments and social or moral usages and customs of the local people. 83. A party shall not at any stage operate in more than one area and scale more than one peak. 84. Also a party shall not scale a peak by a route which goes through another peak. 85. A party shall not split into small groups while in the mountains. In cases of emergency a L.O. has the authority to allow splitting of a party. 86. A party shall not deviate from the specified route except in an emergency and with the permission of a L.O. 87. Maps etc if applied for and issued to a party shall be returned to the Government of Pakistan through L.O. before an expedition's departure from Pakistan. A nominal amount of non-refundable money may also need to be deposited with the Government for use of these maps. 88. Duplicate copies of photographical data collected during mountain climbing etc, shall be handed over to L.O. 89. Should a party be of mountaneering-cum-scientific or exclusively scientific nature, the leader shall submit to the Pakistan authorities concerned for inspection of all the data / specimens / collections etc. 90. Export of all such collection without the prior permission of the Government of Pakistan is prohibited. 91. A leader shall also provide a set of all such specimens to the Government of Pakistan. 92. Copies of research papers / documents prepared shall also be supplied, in duplicate, to the Government of Pakistan. |
XVI. ENVIRONMENTAL CARE CODE93. It is imperative to keep the mountains clean. Instructions contained in the subsequent paras on the subject shall be strictly observed. 94. Every mountaineering party irrespective of its size shall contribute US$ 200 or equivalent in Pakistani currency for Environment Protection Fund. The Head of Account for depositing this contribution is "Receipt of Tourism Division 130000-139000". This could be deposited by expeditions after their arrival in Pakistan in the State Bank of Pakistan or in the authorized branch of National Bank of Pakistan. 95. Mountaineering parties shall also deposit refundable amount of US$ 1,000 or equivalent in Pakistani currency in the authorized bank in Pakistan. The amount would be subject to forefeiture in full or in part thereof in case the expedition or any of its members causes damage to environment. 96. A party shall leave a camping site clean. On return, a L.O. shall furnish a certificate that this condition has been fully complied with by a party. 97. A party or its porters shall not damage the forest or animal wealth of the area. On return, a L.O. shall furnish a certificate that this condition has also been fully complied with by a party. 98. In case it is established that a certain liaison officer gave false certificate, the matter would be brought to the notice of his detailing authority who would proceed against him / her under the laid down rules on the subject. In case of a Civilian Liaison Officer or guide his / her registration would be cancelled and he / she would be disqualified as a guide for a period of four years. 99. In case of breach of these rules, a party or all the members of such a party shall be disqualified for any further mountaineering expedition to Pakistan for a period of four years. In addition to this they may also be proceeded against under the relevant laws. |
XVII. MISCELLANEOUS100. A party shall engage porters through local administration. 101. A low altitude porter shall carry a maximum weight of 25 kilos. He shall cover a minimum distance of 10 kilometers and a maximum distance of 13 kilometers per day with suitable stoppages of 5-10 minutes after every hour. If there are some traditional night halts on the way, which are short of the said 10-13 kilometers, then a porter may stay there for the night. He shall have to make up for the loss of mileage the next day. 102. A high altitude porter shall carry maximum weight according to the following scale:
103. While carrying this load beyond a base camp a porter shall make only one trip from one camp to another. This trip would be inclusive of going up and coming down. Leader of a party shall use his discretion in setting up of camps beyond the said base camp by taking into consideration the location of mountains, terrain and areas of avalanches. 104. A porter shall sign an undertaking of good behaviour as per Annexure 'J'. One copy of the said undertaking shall be deposited with a representative of local administration. Another copy shall be banded over to the leader. The third copy shall be provided to the porter. 105. A party shall try to follow the date of arrival as fixed by the Government in order to avoid pressure on transport and accommodation. 106. As soon as a party gets the permission letter, it shall immediately get in touch with the nearest PIA Office or an office of any other airline for reservation of seats and booking of equipment from Rawalpindi to Northern Areas / Chitral by giving the following information:
107. Flights to N.As. and Chitral are subject to weather conditions and as such PIA or any other airline may not be able to give firm dates of bookings. In such cases, a party would need to request the PIA / any other airline to pass on the above information to Officer Incharge, Northern Areas, PIA Office, The Mall, Rawalpindi. 108. A party shall come prepared to stay for a period of 2-3 weeks in Rawalpindi and N.As / Chitral, respectively, in case the weather suddenly turns bad. 109. A party shall have to register itself with Foreigners Registration Officer in the Office of Senior Superintendent of Police, at Rawalpindi before leaving for mountains. Similarly a party shall inform the said Foreign Registration Officer before leaving Rawalpindi / Islamabad on departure from Pakistan. 110. To obviate language difficulty, a party coming from non-english speaking country, shall invariably include in an expedition an English speaking member. 111. A party shall not serve forbidden items like pork etc, to L.O. / porters. |
XVIII. TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR WINTER MOUNTAINEERING EXPEDITIONS VISITING PAKISTANA. LIAISON OFFICER: The Terms and Conditions for Liaison Officer would remain the same as provided under item IV above except the following:
B. PORTERS: The Terms and Conditions for porters (both high and low altitude) would remain the same as provided under item VII above except the following:
C. MISCELLANEOUS:
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