A FORMER pupil of Belle Vue Boys' School is back in Bradford in his official role as the honorary UK ambassador to place he describes as ‘heaven on earth’.

Haroon Rashid, 42, is hosting an exhibition promoting Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan, which is said by some to be the real Shangri La.

Mr Rashid will tonight be at the Clifton Restaurant in Carlisle Road, Manningham, where an invited audience of 150 guests including businesspeople, MPs , community leaders and sports figures from Yorkshire will be able to find out more about the remote region which is home to some of the world’s highest mountain ranges, including K2, and where life expectancy peaks at 94.

After Bradford the exhibition, which will feature a dazzling display of emeralds, rubies and other gems mined from its rocks, will eventually go on tour to London, Manchester, Brussels and Paris to put Gilgit-Baltistan on the map.

The region is already a magnet for adventurous trekkers and climbers but now it hopes to widen its attraction by offering tax-free incentives for industry.

Mr Rashid, who is based in London working in the aviation and property industry, not only fell in love with the country when he went trekking there six years ago - but also met and married a local girl Farhat Haroon who is one of only a few people ever to have left remote Gilgit-Baltistan and is now mum to their four children.

He had gone on a trekking holiday with friends but when melted glaciers caused massive floods to hit the region, cutting off any way out - he ended up staying for three months and helped rebuild devastated communities.

Through the links he made, the honour of becoming an ambassador was bestowed on him by Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman, the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan and the government of Pakistan.

Bordered by the Indian-administered state of Kashmir as well as Afghanistan and China, the area has been difficult to reach in the past because of its mountains but now a new initiative between the Pakistan and the Chinese governments is opening up an economic corridor linking both countries by building tunnels and roads through the peaks to export goods easier. There is a lobby to also include India and Iran.

“Gilgit-Baltistan is a place of breath-taking beauty. It is heaven on earth, it’s paradise and it is becoming a land of opportunities,” said Mr Rashid.

The region’s chief minister will be inviting a delegation from the UK to visit this summer and see it for themselves.