Significance of cultural diversity highlighted

LAHORE: Celebration of cultural diversity leads to the promotion of tolerance, acceptance, harmony and peace among the youth.

This was stated by the speakers during Punjab Diversity Festival titled “Hum-a-Hang Punjab-Rung Dharti Ke” being held by Punjab Institute of Language, Arts and Culture (PILAC) on Tuesday.

The two-day festival was inaugurated by Muhammad Ajmal Cheema, head of Chief Minister’s inspection team Punjab. The festival also included a discussion on interfaith harmony which was addressed by Samia Raheel Qazi, Member Council of Islamic Ideology, Mufti Aqeel Pirzada, Chairman Ulema Aman Committee Pakistan, Dr Allama Muhammad Hussain Akbar, Member Ulema Board Pakistan, Sardar Mahindar Pal Singh, MPA and religious scholar Allama Raghib Naeemi.

Students from various educational institutions like Punjab University, University of Education, Government College University, FC University, and Government College Township along with civil society activists attended the event.

The aim of the festival was to highlight the importance of literature, language, art and culture amongst the youth for promoting diversity, acceptance, tolerance, harmony and peace. This whole initiative intended to take the students from different educational institutes on board and engage them in cultural activities.

The festival included various activities like theatre performances, panel discussions on importance of culture and interfaith harmony, puppet shows, oral history sessions, poetry session and folk music performances.

Cultural evening was also the part of the festival where the renowned folk singer “Malkoo” presented cultural as well as national songs. The performance was largely lauded by the youth.

Speaking on the occasion, Muhammad Ajmal Cheema, Minister for Social Welfare/Industries, lauded the efforts made to engage the educated youth in such creative activities and said “Culture is the way of promoting peace, acceptance and harmony and presence of youths shows that our future is exposed to the positive activities.”

He said “These institutions are doing their best job in reviving the cultural activities especially through the youth engagement.” He appreciated the efforts and urged upon the organisers to keep the good work going with same zeal and zest.

Dr Sughra Sadaf, DG PILAC, while highlighting the importance of languages shared “Languages and cultures are not the dividers rather they are beautiful connectors through which we get attracted to different people and accept them the way they are.”

She stressed that “We should accept the cultures the way they are instead of striving for uniformity we should accept the cultural differences and enjoy them. There was also a poetry session where the famous poets shared their words about the importance of culture, acceptance, harmony and peace.

On day II, there was a panel discussion highlighting the importance of interfaith harmony. The speakers stressed upon the interfaith harmony and urged the youth to have harmony and said “All sane voices would promote interfaith harmony, acceptance and brotherhood.”

The festival was concluded by Mian Aslam Iqbal, Minister for Information and Culture. The minister said “Such activities with youths are the dire need of time and we must provide them with such platforms.” In the end, shields were distributed among the guests. Dr Sughra Sadaf thanked all the participants.