During the recent years, Pakistan has witnessed the globalisation of education, industry and business. Parallel to it, there is an explosion of communication and information. The world has become smaller. Although there are many advantages, there are also some disturbing aspects. One of them is the disintegration of community feelings; the other is the loss of cultural identity. I have personally observed that in Pakistan, especially in Karachi, people have become more introvert and local festivals, arts, crafts etc have lost their flavour and values.
These changes are going on unnoticed and people do not realise what they are losing. Though I have nothing against globalisation and modern communication, what concerns me the most is preservation of rich cultural heritage and community feeling among the people. This requires a sustained effect on the part of people, government, local industry, business, educational institutes as well as multinationals to give special attention to local cultural aspects in their work.
YOUSRA SALEEM
Karachi
