MULTAN, Oct 10: The centuries-old camel skin craft is fast losing its shine amid decline in demand for its products.

Multan is known for its handicraft including those prepared by camel skin. Colourful paintings and ‘Naqashi’ add to the worth of the products like lamp and other decorative items.

South Punjab Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Fatima Leghari says Multan is known around the world for camel skin artifacts. She says 26 crafts of Multan are on the verge of disintegration.

Pakistan, she believes, could earn precious foreign exchange by reviving these arts particularly camel skin products but governments seem to have other priorities.

Malik Abdul Rehman Naqash, whose family has been involved in the art for nine centuries, says three types of craftsmen -- Naqash, clayman and Dabgar -- play their role in making a product.

“A Naqash designs the product and delivers it to clayman who moulds the clay according to the required design and sends it to Dabgar who does the job of removing hair and flesh from the camel skin and making a number of skin layers after cleaning it. He wraps the wet skin onto the clay mould and the joints in the skin naturally mix with one another after being dried for two days,” he explains.

To take the mould out of the skin, it is hit with a stick and thus mould breaks and falls out while leaving dried camel skin item in perfect shape. “Then the Dabgar once again hands over camel skin item to a Naqash for work,” he says.

He says camel skin product can be used for 50 to 100 years as it requires varnish or lacquer. For centuries Kuppa (container) made of camel skin is being used for containing oil and ghee, he says.

He recalls his grandfather, Ustad Abdullah Naqash, made first camel skin lamp in 1910 and clayman Ustad Hayat Muhammad made first mould of the lamp that gave a new life and spirit to the camel skin art as well as Naqashi.

After Abdullah Naqash, his son Ashiq Naqash gave new touches to the art of his forefathers by working on pots, articles of wood like furniture, doors, cots, jewellery boxes and stands besides walls and roofs of famous buildings, says Abdul Rehman.

He says Ashiq Naqash designed an exercise book for Naqashi and demands that the government help him publish it for future generations.

“I learnt this art from my father and now I am conducting workshops on camel skin craft across the world including India, the USA and Germany,” he says.

He says his father had hundreds of students but now the art is dying because of the tourism industry downfall.

He also urges the authorities concerned to arrange workshops at schools, colleges and universities for the promotion of crafts.