Pakistan Day celebrations at Lok Virsa
ISLAMABAD: Lok Virsa (National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage) and Ministry of National Heritage and Integration celebrated Pakistan Day with a great fervour and festivity here at Shakaparian.
In this regard, a special programme was organised at the Pakistan Monument Museum, where a group of students of local school sang national songs along with folk artist Javed Niazi. Their performances were highly appreciated by the visitors.
In order to attract maximum number of visitors for joining in the celebrations, free entry was allowed by the management on the day. A cake-cutting ceremony also took place at the museum which was performed by Joint Secretary of the National Heritage Ministry Mashood Mirza.
Pakistan National Museum of Ethnology, popularly known as Heritage Museum, also remained open for public throughout the day and entertained a huge number of visitors.
Talking to APP, Executive Director Lok Virssa Khalid Javaid said, “This year we specially invited school children to participate in our programmes with a view to inculcate awareness among them about our rich cultural heritatge.” This idea was conceived by Asaf Ghafoor, Federal Secretary, Ministry of National Heritage and Integration keeping in mind the educational potential of Lok Virsa’s facilities for the benefit of young generations, he maintained.
He further added that Pakistani culture was diverse but it had unity in it. This unity in diversity needs to be explained to our children through cultural activities and folkloric expressions.
Lok Virsa is trying to impart and communicate the characteristics of the Pakistani folklore with the objective to raise awareness level of school children about their own culture and to develop their interest in a broader perspective, he said.
“We believe that children need exposure to the world outside their immediate and local environs. Lack of opportunities and remoteness prevents them from stepping out of their local environs and see the world around.” Feeling this requirement in mind and to achieve these objectives, Lok Virsa has also launched a full fledged project on establishment of Children’s Folklore Society under which eight societies have already been set up in remotest parts of Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkwa provinces, he added.
A large number of residents of twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, in particular students, youth and families visited Lok Virsa facilities and appreciated the activities presented by the organisers.
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