Minister asks civil society to help Sindh get back National Museum’s control

KARACHI: Sindh Culture Minister Syed Sardar Ali Shah has said the civil society in Karachi should come into action and urge the federal government to hand over the National Museum of Pakistan in the city once again to the provincial government.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Sindh Literature Festival (SLF) at Arts Council on Friday, he complained that the federal government had wrested the control of the National Museum from the province.

He announced that a formal allocation would be included in the upcoming budget of the Sindh Culture Department for new fiscal year so as to make the SLF a permanent yearly feature.

Shah recalled on the occasion that India had accorded 26 regional languages spoken the status of the national language, but in Pakistan the languages of the people of the provinces lacked such an honour.

He lamented that the bill to accord the status of the national language to four provincial languages had not been given due attention by the Senate for passing it.

The culture minister emphasised that the Sindhi language should particularly be honoured at the national level and given the status of a national language given that all of Pakistan came under the historical area of the Indus Valley civilisation.

He lamented that renowned Sufi poets belonging to the other provinces lacked the official patronage and attention as was the case of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai, saying that he himself and the Sindh chief minister remained involved in the annual Urs celebrations of Bhittai.

He said the SLF being organised at the Arts Council showed that the venue carried affection for people belonging to all cultures and languages. He mentioned that the cultural activism showcased at the Arts Council showed that the people of Sindh fully adhered to their culture, language and mystic mindset. Shah appreciated the fact that youths had been participating in the cultural activism in province to promote their art, literature and music. He said the linguistic divide in the province on the basis of Urdu and Sindhi languages should come to an end.