LAHORE, June 6: The draft national policy on preservation and promotion of culture and heritage is likely to be finalized for submission to the federal cabinet in September.

This was stated by Additional Secretary Zafar Ahmad of the Ministry of Information and Culture at a seminar here on Tuesday. The seminar on policy for the preservation and promotion of culture was organized by the Punjab Information, Culture and Youth Affairs Department in collaboration with Unesco.

Mr Ahmad said the federal ministry would support the Unesco initiative on culture. Punjab Information, Culture and Youth Affairs Secretary Taimur Azmat Osman said in his welcome speech that the federal government had prepared a draft policy on preservation and promotion of culture and heritage.

Keeping in view the cultural diversity in the country, it was decided to debate the draft policy. Seminars in Quetta, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Islamabad had been organized to find common grounds in the diversity to form a comprehensive culture policy at national level.

Punjab Institute of Languages, Arts and Culture director-general Shehzad Qaiser read paper on Punjabi Muslim culture in contemporary times, Faqir Syed Aijazuddin on cultural identity of Lahore and its significance for Punjab, Punjab Archaeology Department director Shahbaz Khan on archaeological heritage of Punjab while Saleem Bokhari on potentials of cultural tourism in Punjab.

National Project Coordinator Yasmeen Lari said the Unesco was assisting member states in formulating comprehensive cultural policies for safeguarding their tangible and intangible cultural heritage and cultural diversity.

She said the programme was in line with the Common Country Assessment (CCA) and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), agreed between the Pakistan government and the United Nations in 2003.

The Nazims of Sahiwal, Multan, Bahawalpur and Sargodha were invited to the seminar. Sargodha Nazim could come for half an hour but he, too, did not participate in the discussion.

A number of the district coordination officers or the executive district officers who turned up at the seminar, left after the first session when papers were presented. A draft policy on culture was prepared during the regime of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto but it was never announced.