KARACHI, April 19: Participants of a seminar on "policy for preservation and promotion of culture" on Monday discussed the recommendations which would be finally included in a cultural policy aimed at safeguarding the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Pakistan.
The seminar was organized by the Sindh culture and tourism department in collaboration with Unesco. The participants also had a detailed discussion on the plan of action chalked out on the basis of the recommendations which would be implemented by various government, non-government, autonomous and semi-autonomous organizations and departments, corporate and financial sectors.
The participants said they would give their views on the recommendations and the plan of action to the ministry of information and culture, Sindh, within two weeks. A representative of Unesco, Farhat Gul, recalled that a national policy seminar on culture, cultural heritage and cultural tourism had been organized by Unesco and the ministry of culture from Dec 9, 2003, to Dec 11, 2003, in Islamabad.
She added that the seminar had been held on the recommendations of the Unesco-UNDP-Government of Pakistan project on cultural tourism, Lahore and Peshawar. Discussing the plan of action, the director of the Sindh archives department, Kaleemullah Lashari, said while it was good to urge the government to ratify and implement all relevant international normative instruments on promotion of cultural diversity, protection of tangible and natural heritage and safeguarding of intangible heritage, the stakeholders should also call for establishment of a monitoring body which would keep track of the progress made by the government on those international agreements and conventions which it had already signed.
Archaeologist Dr Asma Ibrahim said that a large number of architecture students felt that they should be taught conservation. She underlined the importance of including the subject of conservation in curriculum so that students, especially those of architecture, learnt the subject which they could implement on many occasions in their practical life.
The former director-general of the archaeology, Ahmad Nabi Khan, called for closer cooperation with internationally recognized bodies in the fields of heritage and architecture. He added that it was his experience that getting scholars from abroad for training of local personnel was more fruitful than sending a couple of personnel to a foreign country. He cautioned against inviting those foreign scholars whose expertise was not quite up to the mark.
Leading conservationist Yasmin Lari of the Heritage Foundation not only read out the entire document but also incorporated the suggestions put forward by stakeholders. She pointed out that foreign donors and agencies put out a lot of information about cultural preservation and protection of heritage.
She deplored that our embassies in these countries did not bring the information back to Pakistan. She suggested that meetings between the officials of the ministry of foreign affairs and the ministry culture be held on a regular basis.
Nelofar Farrukh, who also gave a presentation on traditional crafts of Sindh, observed that existing laws about movement of paintings by masters out of the country were not clear. She added that all over the world a possessor of paintings by masters could not take them out of his country. She pointed out that in Pakistan this law was not practised.
Earlier, the Sindh minister for culture, Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani, regretted that there was very poor tourism infrastructure in the province. He added that the provincial government had asked the federal government to allow it to take care of the historical site in Moenjodaro. Others who gave their presentations included Dr Mohammad Ali Shaikh, Dr Kaleemullah Lashari, Khurshid Ahmed Junejo and Mazhar- ul-Haq Siddiqui.