Media role needed to promote museums in Pakistan

by Jamil Bhatti

ISLAMABAD, May 19 (Xinhua) -- The authorities of museums in Pakistan, marking the International Museum Day on Tuesday, asked media to promote museums in the society as the number of visitors have dropped drastically during last few years.

Hundreds of Pakistanis thronged to the different historical, cultural, archaeological, architectural and natural museums throughout the country on May 18 but the authorities said that people visit occasionally and rarely only on some special days that is not encouraging.

"Taking this special day an opportunity, we have invited you here to tell the values and utilities of museums for the society, but you see even on this international museum day people are not coming as much as expected," said Dr. Muqarrab Shah, the director general of Pakistan Museum of Natural History.

Stressing the need of a media campaign, Shah also asked media persons to write and telecast supporting materials to raise awareness among the people especially the young generation.

"We shall have to tell them how museums can be beneficial institutions for them and for the service of society and of its development," he added.

Muhammad Saleh, the director of archeology department Peshawar, didn't look much happy with the people's little interest in the museums, afraid of the situation worsening day by day.

"Before the start of war against terrorism, thousands of foreigners used to visit our museums but now situation is totally changed, even locals are hesitant to come," Saleh tried to describe the severity of the current situation.

The International Museum Day has been celebrated around the world since 1977. This year it is being celebrated with the theme of "Museums for Social Harmony."

The much bigger Museum of Earth Sciences under the supervision of the Geological Survey of Pakistan made arrangements for observing the day in Quetta, the capital of southwestern province Balochistan.

Joozer Marzban, in charge of the museum told Xinhua that they had opened seven galleries of the museum from dawn to dusk for visitors and there were no ticket charges for entry.

"People usually come in a less number on the other days but with the context of this International Museum Day many as school groups and families are expected, we have deployed special guides for their proper guidance," said Marzban.

Women visitors usually show their interest in the "Gem Hall" in the museum filled with many precious pearls found in northern and western areas of Pakistan, like emerald, sapphire, garnet, opal, topaz, ruby, fluorite and amethyst, etc.

Ten feet long unique elephant teeth and thousands years old fossils attract visitors and impress them. A four-feet-long jaw of the world's biggest mammal "Balochitherium" which was explored with the help of international universities and research institutes is still unbelievable for research communities.

On the time of independence in 1947, Pakistan inherited only seven museums, but now it has 27 museums which are preserving national heritages.

Mostly museums are in the big cities like country's capital Islamabad or in provincial capitals Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta but many famous and internationally recognized museums are in rural areas far in interior Pakistan.

Some of the museums include Peshawar Museum, Archaeological Museum Saidu Sharif, Swat, Archaeological Museum Taxila, Armory Museum Lahore, Archaeological Museum Harappa, Allama Iqbal Museum Lahore, Arts & Craft Museum Lahore, Science Museum-Lahore, Bahawalpur Museum, Lok Virsa Museum Islamabad, Natural History Museum Islamabad, National Museum of Pakistan Karachi and Moenjodaro Museum-Moenjodaro.

Different art galleries are also doing jobs to preserve national heritage, like Arts Council Gallery Lahore, Al-Hamra Art Gallery, National Art Gallery and Nomad Art Gallery in Islamabad.

Lok Virsa Museum Islamabad (the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage) on the occasion made some special arrangements for heritage lovers.

Mazharul Islam, Lok Virsa Executive Director, said that Lok Virsa was currently in the process of documenting and preserving the dying traditional skills from remote and far-flung areas.

"Lok Virsa is working on a project to hold a festival of cinema billboard painters soon which will publicize the creativity of this almost vanished art," Islam said.

Saleem Khilji, 42, a visitor to the Lok Virsa museum Islamabad, revealed that museums were an important means of enrichment and change of cultures, and development of mutual understanding and harmony among societies.

"Museums are mirror to our past, they show us various items of historical importance, they are big institutes to educate our children about how their forefathers once lived"," said Khilji while talking to Xinhua.

"You see in this museum, under one roof, I have viewed almost all the cultures, traditions and life styles of the people living in different parts of Pakistan, this is a big source of education, " Khilji added.

Department of Archaeology and Museums, a branch of the Ministry of Culture, is responsible for museums in the country. Experts and common people are of the view that the ministry should ensure the security of the visitors than anything else for the promotion of the museums.

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