PESHAWAR, Sept 14: Speakers at a seminar called for a new legislation for preservation and promotion of culture.
A one-day seminar was organized jointly by the department of archaeology and museums and Unesco on "Policy for preservation and promotion of culture" to get opinion from the four provinces to evolve a new cultural policy to promote and preserve cultural heritage of Pakistan.
Director of Unesco Jorge Sequeira said that the mandate of Unesco was to protect and preserve cultural heritage. If the new policy for preservation and promotion of culture was implemented many historical sites in Pakistan could be included into Unesco's World Heritage Sites.
The Unesco and the culture department initiated a project in December 2003 to prepare a draft policy to preserve and promote culture. After taking suggestions from all provinces, the recommendations would be incorporated in the draft which would belater presented to the federal government for legislation.
Ms Yasmeen Lari, the national project coordinator, presented the draft policy comprising mostly officials of the culture department and students of archeology department, Peshawar University.
The draft policy was prepared owing to the non- implementation of the cultural policy of 1995. It was observed that historic buildings were in dilapidated conditions and others were being demolished for the sake of financial gains or modernization.
The new policy will focus on the preservation of the cultural heritage and also promote culture. The identification and image-building of cultural heritage, the mapping of cultural resources, promoting tourism and educating people about culture and its preservation were the main recommendations of Ms Lari.
The cultural policy should aim in particular to enhance development by the integration of the cultural strategies into social and economic development policies. The policy should also aim at the preservingand safeguarding of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
It also envisaged encouragement and educating young generation to appreciate the existing diversity of content and forms of cultural expressions. The policy implies to consolidate cultural institutions and train cultural professionals and mobilizing more human and financial resources for cultural development.
The communities will be involved in cultural conservation. Information technology would also be used to preserve cultural heritage including museums, archives, handicrafts, paintings, theatre, music and other traditional arts.
The policy would encourage research in the creative knowledge and promote cultural investigation and research on contemporary materials. The provincial Minister for Science and Technology Hussain Ahmed Kanju, the chief guest on this occasion, said that provincial government was prepared to legislate and provide funds for the preservation and promotion of the cultural heritage.
Dr Ziaul Qamar, a participant, said that instead of looking for financial assistance from the foreign agencies the provincial government should preserve the archaeological sites in the NWFP because it was our own culture.
Prof Ihsan Ali, director of museums, said that Pakistan was a custodian of rich culture. The NWFP was a gold mine of past cultures and as the Antiquity Law was not properly implemented the historic arti facts were being smuggled out of the country. He said that laws should be implemented in letter and spirit to protect our cultural heritage.
Miss Tayyaba Ahmed, chairperson of the department of fine arts, University of Peshawar said that a cultural policy of 1995 was already there but the non-implementation of policies had caused damage to the cultural heritage. Crafts should be revived and archaeological sites should be preserved.
