Pakistan with all its cultural and archeological heritage remained unidentified in other parts of the world. Many writers and masses who traveled in other countries, had to face question about the location and identity of the country. Some people had to refer it ‘near India’ or ‘near Afghanistan’, etc. Faiz Ahmed Faiz mentioned to receive a letter having address as Pakistan, India.
This is definitely before 911 or we can say before nuclear explosions in 1998. Now, we are in news for all bad news, but still people who don’t follow international politics, etc still have little information about Pakistan and its true identity.
Faiz sahb then had said that its due to fact that we didn’t promote our culture and history properly. While Indians made Taj Mahal as their introduction to outside world, we never made efforts to introduce ourselves with any archeological and historical building in Pakistan. Faiz was also of the view that ‘chaand tara’ on Pakistan’s flag is not a distinguishing feature for Pakistan as its in one way or other is present in flags of many other Muslim countries.
If you have to chose **five items **(building, arts, personality, cuisine, etc) as trademark of Pakistan, what will be your selection?
I used to see foreign tourists especially Japanese when I was studying in taxila and they used to express astonishment on the presence of Buddhist remains in Pakistan. No one knows that the some of the oldest sites of Buddhism exist in Pakistan.
wide terminologies. Mention your list of objects with the help of pictures. Like what will be representing Indus Valley Civilization?
maybe the baba who is on sachays dp, at the end of the day marketing (lots need to be done there) and improvement of infrastructure and law/order in the concerned places.
maybe the baba who is on sachays dp, at the end of the day marketing (lots need to be done there) and improvement of infrastructure and law/order in the concerned places.
Badshahi Masjid
Lahore Fort
K2
**
Ancient City of Moenjodaro **
Lake Saif ul Malook
I have a long list and I'm still quite undecided, but lets settle for this now, lol.
Do you think this representation will be accepted by all quarters of Pakistan?
Maybe it's a lazy Monday morning, but I still see no problem. Perhaps you need to pin point potential controversies that may arise.
I meant non-Islamic trademarks of a Muslim county. The priest of Moen jo Daro may be as disliked as Budhas of Bamiyan. The way Egyptians promoted pyramids is totally different than what Pakistanis did to Moen jo Daro, Taxila, etc
I meant non-Islamic trademarks of a Muslim county. The priest of Moen jo Daro may be as disliked as Budhas of Bamiyan. The way Egyptians promoted pyramids is totally different than what Pakistanis did to Moen jo Daro, Taxila, etc
Western Imperialism had played a significant role in making Egyptians realise the value of their pre Islamic archeologists site. It's always been centre of their intellectual, religious and cultural fascination with the Middle East. Besides, despite being pre-Islamic, a lot of Islamic and history of all Abrahamic faiths is still linked with those pyramids. I don't think British imperialists were as drawn and in loved with Moenjodaro or Texila the way they were with Pyramids and River Nile, though they certainly appreciated Mughal architecture.
Coming back to your original point, I don't think Pakistan has such problem with highlighting non-Muslim heritage, for example, I don't recall anyone opposing glorification of Moenjodaro in Sindh Festival on religious grounds. But PPP despite spending close to a billion, did not help make the general public more knowledgeable about the actual history of Moenjodaro.
Western Imperialism had played a significant role in making Egyptians realise the value of their pre Islamic archeologists site. It's always been centre of their intellectual, religious and cultural fascination with the Middle East. Besides, despite being pre-Islamic, a lot of Islamic and history of all Abrahamic faiths is still linked with those pyramids. I don't think British imperialists were as drawn and in loved with Moenjodaro or Texila the way they were with Pyramids and River Nile, though they certainly appreciated Mughal architecture.
Coming back to your original point, I don't think Pakistan has such problem with highlighting non-Muslim heritage, for example, I don't recall anyone opposing glorification of Moenjodaro in Sindh Festival on religious grounds. But PPP despite spending close to a billion, did not help make the general public more knowledgeable about the actual history of Moenjodaro.
As Ali mentioned people were astonished to know about Buddhist remains at Taxila, same is the case with other pre-Islamic archeological sites of Pakistan. Our syllabus give less weightage to Moen jo Daro as compared to weightage given in India. There is definitely a problem in promoting pre-Islamic history of Pakistani areas as our leadership always carried a fragile concept of Islam with them. As far as political parties like PPP are concerned, they don't have cultural ideogies, they are there just to exploit cultural ideologies.
If Pakistan doesn't have problem in promoting pre-Muslim heritage then we would have known more about Hindu teeraths scattered in Thar and Balochistan. Many people still don't know about the importance of Katas temple of Pakistan in Hinduism.
As Ali mentioned people were astonished to know about Buddhist remains at Taxila, same is the case with other pre-Islamic archeological sites of Pakistan. Our syllabus give less weightage to Moen jo Daro as compared to weightage given in India. There is definitely a problem in promoting pre-Islamic history of Pakistani areas as our leadership always carried a fragile concept of Islam with them. As far as political parties like PPP are concerned, they don't have cultural ideogies, they are there just to exploit cultural ideologies.
If Pakistan doesn't have problem in promoting pre-Muslim heritage then we would have known more about Hindu teeraths scattered in Thar and Balochistan. Many people still don't know about the importance of Katas temple of Pakistan in Hinduism.
Unfortunately, History as a subject is not institutionalised. Promoting ancient history requires a whole new level of scholarship, and I'm not even sure if Pakistan has resources to promote ancient history in academia. If only we'd reduce army's larger than life unregulated funding and invest some of that money in our cultural and educational sector. :p But you are right, there seems to be a systematic bias towards pre-Islamic history of Pakistan, but I don't think general public's attitude reflects any antipathy towards country pre-Islamic sites and history.
