MINGORA: Cultural activists and civil society members here on Friday urged the district administration to highlight the rich cultural heritage of Swat valley in its beautification project.

They were speaking in a meeting with the officials of line departments and stakeholders regarding the beautification of Swat district here at the Swat deputy commissioner’s office.

The speakers said that Swat valley had a rich cultural heritage tracing back to over 5,000 years where both tangible and intangible heritage existed in a variety of forms, including ancient rock paintings, cave art, woodcarving, rock carving and stone architecture.

Call for highlighting rich heritage of Swat valley

“We have evidences in our archeological ruins about the use of different colours belonging to pre- and post-Gandharan era which have its own meaning and signals so we should use them while painting walls and shops in bazaars,” said Murad Khan, a painter and artist who works on ancient paintings of Swat. He also suggested some suitable colours and reliefs for painting walls and gates of shops in bazaars so that ancient heritage of the valley could be depicted.

Social activist Dr Jawad Khan said that signboards and plates on shops must not be in shabby conditions and the district administration must fix some standards for that.

“The name boards on shops must have standard sizes and colours which should be discussed with the traders and implemented throughout the district,” he said.

Bilawal Khan, a youth activist, said that the beautification must be carried out with proper planning.

“There must be painting series with stories in it which must be taken from the ancient history of Swat valley. We should invite all the young artists and painters of Swat valley to a meeting and they should be assigned proper areas so that they can paint cultural stories,” he said, adding that their volunteer work should also be acknowledged.

The participants also stressed on quality of colours as they said that the paintings must remain for longer time. They also said that the electricity lines were installed in a mismanaged way and asked the administration to reorganise them in a neat way.

Additional deputy commissioner Mohammad Tahir, who chaired the meeting, said that all the stakeholders must take active part in the beautification project starting from next week.

He said that the activity would be properly monitored by officials.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2018