What happened
The International Silk Route Festival opened on Saturday at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) in Islamabad, The Express Tribune reported on Monday 26 October. Diplomats, government officials, tourism representatives, businesspeople, exhibitors and young delegates gathered to celebrate Pakistan’s cultural heritage and promote regional cooperation through tourism, trade and cultural exchange.
The festival was organised by Silk Route Enterprises in collaboration with the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC), under the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination, with provincial tourism departments and private-sector partners. The opening ceremony’s chief guest was Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Tourism. Ambassadors and high commissioners from Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Portugal, Tajikistan and Belarus attended, along with delegates from Sri Lanka and Malaysia. PTDC Managing Director Aftab ur Rehman Rana also spoke, highlighting Pakistan’s tourism, trade and cultural-exchange potential with countries along the historic route.
What it means for travellers
The festival’s stated aim is to revive the ancient Silk Route as a modern platform for cultural diplomacy, tourism promotion, business networking and people-to-people exchange — the same historic routes that run through Gilgit-Baltistan and Hunza. For readers planning a Pakistan trip, the practical signal is that Islamabad is positioning itself as the gateway showcase for the country’s Silk Route regions, including the north. The Prime Minister’s Adviser on Tourism also proposed a dedicated task force to promote the Silk Route region and coordinate tourism departments, businesses and international partners.
What to watch
Whether the proposed Silk Route task force becomes a real programme with published routes, events or funding — or stays a speech. And travellers currently in Islamabad should check PNCA listings before going: the Tribune report does not state public opening hours or remaining dates, and this post does not invent them. The festival’s relevance for Gilgit-Baltistan readers is the gateway story, not a claim that the festival itself is in the north.
Source: The Express Tribune, 26 October 2026 (Int’l Silk Route Festival opens in capital). This is an original summary, not a reproduction of the Tribune’s text.
