ISLAMABAD, Oct 10: The Senate standing committee on culture, sports, youth and tourism has directed the ministry of culture to redouble its efforts for proper maintenance, upkeep and preservation of the archeological sites in addition to taking tangible steps for projecting and promoting the country’s soft image.

This, it said, could best be done by arranging cultural shows and festivals, both at home and abroad.

The committee, which met at the Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, also felt that the ministry be given representation in the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) with a view to countering the programmes being aired by the foreign channels which are often at variance with our cultural norms and values.

The committee also called upon the government to intensify its effort for projecting the country’s unique cultural heritage through ingenious use of media with the twin objectives of improving the country’s image as well as earning greater amount of foreign exchange.

Earlier, secretary culture Jalil Abbas gave a presentation on the overall performance and achievements of the ministry in projecting country’s traditional heritage and its functions, programmes and future plans.

The committee was given a project-wise breakdown of the budgetary allocation made during the last two years. He said the national cultural policy was being revised and that Pakistan National Council of the Arts was also being restructured.

He informed the committee that efforts were underway to declare 10 new sites in the country as world heritage by Unesco.

He said launching of a cultural satellite channel was also under consideration to project Pakistani culture and that an specialised institute of cultural studies would be established to promote the cultural heritage of remote areas.

The committee was also given an overview of the department of archeology and museums, central board of film censor, Pakistan National Council of the Arts, Lok Virsa, Iqbal Academy and Quaid- i-Azam Academy.

The committee decided to visit the archeological sites in the country to ascertain whether proper upkeep and maintenance of these sites was being taken up.

The meeting was attended by senators Razina Alam Khan, Rehana Yahya Baloch, Fauzia Fakharuz Zaman, Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, Nilofar Bakhtiar, Dr Kausar Firdaus, Mohammad Enver Baig, Abdul Rahim Khan Mandokhel and Sabina Rauf.