Islamabad The National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa) celebrated 69th Independence Day of Pakistan on Friday with great enthusiasm, fervour and festivity. Special programmes organised to mark the occasion included an exhibition of youth artisans-at-work which featured 12 young artisans who are the siblings or students of the established master artisans in various specialized craft fields. The artisans included Rushna Faheem in lacquer art, Zahid Riaz in wax printing, Aamir Gul and Aasima Bibi in basketry work, Hassan in Balochi embroidery, Noor, Sajid and Babar in truck art, Ejaz Khan in Swati wood work, Ambreen Fatima in traditional doll making, Aneel in Sindhi embroidery and Sajjad in Swati shawl. The prominent among them was Noor, son of Khalil-ur-Rehman, master artisan of truck art from Rawalpindi, who caught the visitors’ eye. He paints different crockery items like cups, plates, mugs, etc and decoration pieces in traditional truck art. This colourful, sometimes dazzling art work on vehicles and other means of transportation, which is found in abundance in Pakistan, can hardly be seen anywhere else in the world. Decorations are not only done on trucks and buses but also on all kinds of vehicles like tankers, mini-buses, trucks and rickshaws, tongas and even donkey carts moving on the road throughout the country. Surprisingly, the artists and artisans involved in this art are not graduated from art schools or colleges, yet they carry out their incredible work skilfully, albeit in a native style, using their imagination and inspiration to create fantasies and dreams, the colours and embellishments of which are deeply rooted in Pakistan’s rich folklore. The other programme that Lok Virsa organised was Children Youth Competition at the Pakistan Monument Museum, adjacent to National Monument at Shakarparian. As many as 18 children (age 6-12 years) participated in the competition and created their artworks under the theme “Independence Day of Pakistan”. The children who prepared art work were Zia Rehman Posh, Ali Rehman Posh, Humaira Zaman, Faisal Aman, Aliyan Aman, Salman Zaman, Neha binte Adil, Aun Ahmad, Hamdan, Kamil Feroze, Arsal Feroze, Janita Malik, Noor Fatima, Ashifa Bibi, Saamiya Saqib, Muhammad Tayyab, Ashti Gul, Meharangaz, Mohsin Ali and Nasir Ali. These artworks will be displayed at the Pakistan National Museum of Ethnology (Heritage Museum) in a separate diorama named as “Children Artworks”. Live folk musical performances by folk artists, musicians, folk drummers and dancers, exotic craft bazaar and artisan shops were also an integral part of the celebrations at Lok Virsa Heritage Museum. Lok Virsa Executive Director Dr. Fouzia Saeed inaugurated the celebrations. While talking to the media, she said: “We at Lok Virsa are currently experimenting with several innovative programmes to facilitate the larger problems of the society which culture can significantly contribute towards. This includes building a pluralistic identity of our nation and help the young people to realize how diversity, democracy and acceptance of each other is a positive foundation for our identity and does not have to be a source of conflict, pain and instability”.
