By Mahtab Bashir

ISLAMABAD: Lok Virsa, the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, is all set to hold the Wakhi Cultural Festival from December 9 to 13 at its complex, Garden Avenue Shakarparian, Islamabad.

The festival is being organised under the on-going Joint Institutional Cooperation between Pakistan and Norway.

Giving details of the event, Lok Virsa Executive Director (ED) Khalid Javaid told Daily Times that the festival would encompass various dimensions of the Wakhi culture, traditions, customs, folklores, folk dances and more importantly historical dimensions of Wakhi culture.

The festival will feature artisans-at-work, folkloric performances, folk dance performances, traditional cuisine and a seminar on Wakhi culture and language, he said.

Javaid said in line with its objectives, Lok Virsa has taken various initiatives for the preservation of cultural heritage and to support and encourage artisans, folk artists and musicians through a network of regional cultural associations, societies and community-based organisations. Wakhi festival is being organised in collaboration with Gojal Educational and Cultural Association, Gilgit-Baltistan, the Lok Virsa chief added.

Javaid said historically Wakhi people had lived in the mountainous regions at the junction of cultural transition. “Global media onslaught and interventions have endangered the unique culture, folklore and language of Wakhi people. The Wakhi Pamiri people live in four different countries. In Gilgit-Baltistan, these people are settled in Gojal, Ishkoman, Darkut and Broghil. They also live in many parts of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and China,” he said.

The opening ceremony of the festival will take place on December 9 at 11.30 am at the Heritage Museum, Lok Virsa, Shakarparian.

Meanwhile, the Lok Virsa ED expressed deep sorrow and grief over the death of renowned Pakistani painter and the former Director General of Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA), Ghulam Rasul, who died on Thursday.

Ghulam Rasul gave a new dimension to the art of painting in Pakistan by depicting and portraying village life in his masterpieces. “The nation will always remember his valuable services and contributions towards the promotion of the cultural heritage of Pakistan,” Javaid added.

Earlier, a condolence meeting was held at Lok Virsa, which was attended by all officers and staff members.

They paid rich tribute to the deceased and prayed to Allah to rest his soul in peace and grant his family courage to bear this loss. They termed the death of Ghulam Rasul an irreparable loss to Pakistan.
Source: Daily Times
Date:12/5/2009