A ten-day long ‘Lok Mela’ is being organised to showcase innovative products and talents of unsung artisans in the country, the event will entertain people to distract them from the harsh realities of the country.
In a press briefing, Lok Virsa Executive Director, Dr Fauzia Saeed said the Lok Mela would showcase a special exhibition of dying crafts of our country together with mesmerising cultural performances.
She said the main features include artisans-at-work exhibition of dying crafts, performing artists from Chitral, Kaalash, Gilgit-Baltistan; etc, provincial governments cultural pavilions, cultural evenings, commercial sector and NGO’s stalls working for the well-being of artisans, artists, traditional cuisine, kids’ corner and others.
She said through this event, “we want to inform the youth of the country about the rich cultural heritage that the country possess and after witnessing all these at this platform they would feel proud to be Pakistani.”
Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage, Pervaiz Rasheed will inaugurate the festival on Friday evening, while the guests will witness a colourful dastarbandi/chaddarposhi of artisan and performing artist together with several regional spell-bounding cultural performances.
She informed that throughout the event the focus would remain on promoting and preserving the rich cultural heritage of the country.
The visitors will get to witness a plethora of cultural activities like craft mela to allure shoppers, folkloric performances (rural musicians and dancers) and special puppet shows, face or hand painting for children.
Around 500 artisans and performing artists from all parts of the country will participate in the Lok Mela.
The chief guest of the concluding session would be Balochistan’s chief minister.
Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch will distribute certificates amongst master artisans besides hosting a special closing cultural performance for the guests.
A video documentary showing glimpses of the previous festivals was also screened for journalists present during the press conference.
To a question regarding security arrangements Dr. Fauzia said that this year the Lok Virsa has taken three times more security measures as compared to the previous years.
She said sufficient number of security personnel have been hired from two different companies to ensure proper security arrangements.
