First Lady urges artists to help promote Pakistan’s cultural heritage

• Art and culture faced common threats globally and therefore, it was direly needed for the artists to play their role in protecting the cultural heritage and traditions.
• Such events should be held frequently to make Pakistan’s rich heritage more visible to the world, she added.
• The First Lady, who also interacted British Pakistani and world’s first Sufi Opera Singer Saira Peter at the event, invited all the visiting foreign artists to the Presidency.

ISLAMABAD: First Lady Samina Alvi Friday while terming the art a true expression of norms and values of a society, urged the artists to play their role in highlighting the cultural heritage of Pakistan across the world.

During interaction with the foreign artists at Islamabad Art Festival 2019 held here at Jamil Naqash Museum of Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA), she said Pakistan had a rich and diverse cultural heritage, besides being a land of compassion, tolerance, wisdom and brotherhood.

It had a rich history with traditions having grown out of ancient civilizations like Mohinjadaro and Harrapa, she added.

The First Lady congratulated the organizers of art festival, which brought together a galaxy of local and foreign artists.

She hoped that the foreign artists would have a nice stay in Pakistan and return to their respective countries with good memories which would attract them back again and again.

She said the art and culture faced common threats globally and therefore, it was direly needed for the artists to play their role in protecting the cultural heritage and traditions.

She said it was pleasing that the Islamabad Art Festival 2019 had got a great success and called for making the event a regular annual feature to provide an opportunity to the local artists to work with their counterparts from abroad and polish their skills, besides portraying the positive image of the country.

Such events should be held frequently to make Pakistan’s rich heritage more visible to the world, she added.

The First Lady, who also interacted British Pakistani and world’s first Sufi Opera Singer Saira Peter at the event, invited all the visiting foreign artists to the Presidency.

Begum Samina Alvi also took round of various galleries and appreciated the artwork displayed by the national and international artists.

Earlier, Islamabad Art Festival President Syed Jamal Shah, Saira Peter, Spike Mclarrity of the United Kingdom, photographer Peter Bussian of the United States and a Chinese artist also spoke on the occasion.