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Thursday March 28, 2024

Ambitious plan evolved to revive glory of Peshawar

PESHAWAR: The Sports, Tourism, Culture, Archaeology, Museums and Youth Affairs Department is set to start implementing an ambitious agenda to restore the lost legacy of the Walled City of Peshawar and revive the cultural, sports and tourism activities in the length and breadth of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The decision was made

By our correspondents
August 01, 2015
PESHAWAR: The Sports, Tourism, Culture, Archaeology, Museums and Youth Affairs Department is set to start implementing an ambitious agenda to restore the lost legacy of the Walled City of Peshawar and revive the cultural, sports and tourism activities in the length and breadth of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The decision was made at a meeting of officials of the attached formations of the Sports, Tourism, Culture, Archaeology, Museums and Youth Affairs Department. The meeting was held on Friday and chaired by Secretary Azam Khan.
The meeting decided to initiate various cultural festivals and activities under the Revival of Indigenous Cultural Heritage (RICH) Project. The local arts, Community Based Organisations and NGOs will be included as implementing partners. The Directorate of Culture will implement the RICH Project.
The project is to work as a catalyst in identifying and reviving the celebrations of the indigenous culture. It will document all human cultural assets and prepare a comprehensive online database available to researchers, scholars, policymakers and those who have an interest in culture of this region.
It will begin in all districts of KP in collaboration with the district-based grassroots organisations, cultural operators, arts councils, culture and tourism support groups, artisans and craftsmen associations and civil society organizations.
Secretary Azam Khan said that the project was aimed at documenting, preserving and promoting the indigenous cultural heritage and tourism of all the communities.The Directorate of Culture was tasked to establish a state-of-the-art audio and video studio. The participants also discussed the cultural beautification of city. The Directorate of Culture was asked to run it effectively.
Volunteers will be imparted training to create awareness about the cleanliness and woo the masses to participate in keeping the city clean. The Directorate of Culture will also identify living human assets and maestros of various fields of culture so that the government could honour them with recognition awards. A directory will also be published under the title “The best of KP” or “Living Human Treasures”.
The project is aimed at preserving the knowledge and skills of the maestros and to salute our living legends for their lifelong struggles in different fields of art, crafts, literature, etc. Director General Sports Mian Adil Iqbal said that under-19 cricket talent hunt programme was successful.
In Youth Affairs, the official said the directorate planned to arrange activities like adventure trainings, youth carnivals, culture shows, voluntary training like students exchange programmes and soft skill trainings to empower the youth and engage them in a positive manner.
TCKP Managing Director Mushtaq Ahmad Khan said that 16 resthouses had been given to the corporation in Galiyat. To retain the historic character and culture of the old city, the Directorate of Archaeology is launching a project titled “Conservation of Peshawar Walled City.”
Under the project, the City Wall and historic 16 gates will be conserved for tourism purposes. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan is particularly interested in this project.
A Peshawar Walled City Authority will be established to administer it.
For this purpose, technical assistance has been sought from a Belgian university, which specialisises in preserving historic cities and Peshawar is one of the oldest living cities of Asia.
Dr Abdul Samad, Director Archaeology & Museums said that the directorate planned to conserve old monuments of Peshawar. He said Rs200million had been allocated for the Walled City Project.
The old City Wall was built during the reign of Sikh Governor Avitabile, who was an Italian and remained in office from 1838 to 1842.
The original wall ran around the old city and had 16 gatesTwo of the gates - Sir Asia Gate and Thund Khui Gate- exist in original form, others were rebuilt by the previous government.