Owner vows Pakistan’s Marriott will rise from ashes

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Sitting next to a half-empty swimming pool dotted with chunks of burnt debris, the owner of the Islamabad Marriott pledges that the devastated hotel will reopen by the end of the year.

Tycoon Sadruddin Hashwani, 68, one of Pakistan’s richest men, is overseeing a team of engineers and hotel officials who have spread huge architectural drawings on poolside tables.

The plans show the luxury hotel in its former glory — before a suicide truck bomber rammed 600 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of high explosives into the outer gates on Saturday night and killed at least 60 people.

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But walking up the steps to the rooms on the darkened first-floor hallway, hotel owner Hashwani, a member of the minority Ismaili Muslim sect, pledges that the new Marriott will be even better.

“I have firm faith in Allah and I know that I will be able to give a better look to this hotel,” he said, adding that he even planned to start outdoor catering within 15 days.

“The material loss is big but for me the real loss is the human loss. All those employees who were killed in the attack were just like my own family members and I will now take care of their kids and families.”

Complete at the source

Earlier articles: Marriott Hotel Rescue: Ghulam Punjwani of FOCUS Interviewed by CNN
Two articles on Mariott Hotel Terrorist Bombing in Islamabad