Marriott reopens in Islamabad: Inquirer

By Nasir Jaffry
Agence France-Presse

ISLAMABAD--The luxury Marriott hotel in Islamabad was set to reopen Sunday, just three months after it was destroyed in a suicide truck bombing that killed 60 people, the worst attack in Pakistan this year.
The attacker rammed a truck containing 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of high explosives into the outer gates of the hotel on September 20, sending shockwaves through the capital, especially in the expatriate community.
Sadruddin Hashwani, 68, the owner of the Marriott and one of Pakistan's richest men, pledged immediately after the attack that he would rebuild the 289-room hotel, making it a "fortress" and "even better than before."
Three months later, an army of 2,000 laborers have restored the hotel to its former luster. A grand piano and glistening chandeliers grace the new lobby. The old one, which had a glass atrium, shattered in the attack.
The facility -- located near Pakistan's parliament and other key government buildings -- is also now surrounded by a massive security wall.
"The hotel will be fully functional from today, with the re-opening of all eight restaurants, coffee shops and the conference rooms," Khawar Jameel, a spokesman for Hashwani's Hashoo group, told AFP.

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Pakistan’s Richest Man Defies Terrorism to Expand Bank Empire: Bloomberg

By Yoolim Lee and Naween A. Mangi

Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- On a September evening when many of Pakistan’s 165 million people were breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, billionaire Mian Mohammad Mansha, the country’s richest man, was deciding whether to buy an Indonesian bank.
A phone call to his Lahore office interrupted him: Turn on the television, his son Hassan implored. The Marriott Hotel in Islamabad was in flames after terrorists had detonated a truck packed with explosives. The blast, in a security zone less than a kilometer from the presidential residence, killed 53 and injured 266.
“It was terrifying,” says Mansha, 61, chairman of the Nishat Group financial, textile and cement-making empire, who says he stays at the Marriott when he’s in the capital. Just hours before the blast, Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan’s new president, had vowed to rid the country of the “cancer” of terrorism.
As Pakistan battles extremist-inspired violence and its worst economic crisis in a decade, Mansha says he’s keeping Nishat Group’s expansion on track.
At home, where his MCB Bank Ltd. is the biggest lender by market value, he was in talks in October to buy a rival he declines to name. He’s looking at four banks in Indonesia, the only country with a bigger Muslim population than Pakistan.
By May, he’ll open a machinery and automobile leasing company in Azerbaijan, a predominantly Muslim country between Iran and Russia. He’s eyeing Kazakhstan and the Mideast for banking. And he’s also looking at Canada, with a Pakistani community estimated at more than 300,000 people.
Following India
Mansha started building in the decades of upheaval that followed Pakistan’s split with India after their independence from Britain in 1947.
Now he’s taking a cue from entrepreneurial Indians. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd., and Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Group, expanded as India grew at an average annual rate of 8.8 percent in the five years ended on March 31, 2008.
Pakistan almost kept pace with its larger neighbor: Its gross domestic product rose at an average of 7 percent during the five years that ended on Dec. 31, 2007.
“I want to be the first Pakistani, like some of our counterparts in India, to really go out and show that we Pakistanis can even be successful outside Pakistan,” Mansha says two days after the Marriott bombing.
Mansha is optimistic during a dire period for Pakistan.

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Marriott Hotel Islamabad opened in Pakistan: Pakistan Daily

Reconstruction work is gaining momentum at Marriott Hotel following gruesome blast on 20th of last month.
Reliable Sources of Marriott Hotel informed that it has been temporary re-opened while in the initial stages The Patisserie, Outdoor Catering Laundry Sops and Pearl Tours are now ready to serve its respected customers.

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