Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said the film and broadcasting policy will be announced within a fortnight to help promote soft image of Pakistan.
She said this while inaugurating International Calligraphy Exhibition here on Friday as part of celebrations of 70 years of independence. The minister said as part of the celebrations, a film festival will be held next month where local and foreign films will be exhibited.
Marriyum said that fine arts, literature, national heritage and culture were the best mediums to project positive image of Pakistan at the global level. She said that learning the art of Islamic calligraphy was an auspicious attainment as besides being an art, it also exhibited love and reverence for the Almighty and watching the master pieces of Islamic calligraphy had a soul-stirring impact.
The exhibition was organized by the National History and Literary Heritage Division in collaboration with Research Center for Islamic History, Arts and Culture (IRCICA). The minister said that the purpose of holding the exhibition was to introduce Pakistani culture at the global level.
Marriyum told the audience that Pakistan was going to organise an international film festival next month where films from all over the world would be screened and the event was purported to convey it to the world that Pakistan was an embodiment of peace and love.
The minister informed the audience that the government was in the process of promulgating the first-ever film and broadcasting production policy in the country to revive and encourage the film industry to play its due role in refurbishing the image of the country among the comity of nations.
She said that 60 per cent population of the country consisted of youth but unfortunately they were not well-versed with their culture and therefore it was imperative to create opportunities like this for the youth to have a rub with fine arts, literature, national heritage and culture.
She said that the present exhibition was the first of its kind which had been organized in connection with the Seventy Years Independence Celebrations adding that Pakistan wanted to hold these celebrations in such a way that it attracted the world attention.
She urged the Pakistani artists to hold exhibitions of their artwork and accomplishments in the foreign countries suggesting that Pakistan must have an institution charged with the responsibility to promote the art of calligraphy.
The minister also made an offer to the National History and Cultural Heritage Division to use the premises of Press Information Department or the Pakistan National Council of Arts for holding the calligraphy exhibition.
Later in a brief chat with the journalists, she said that the media could play a vital role in projecting the real face of Pakistan to the world. She reiterated that Quaid-e-Azam wanted Pakistan to emerge as a stable democratic entity and the PML-N government was working relentlessly to rebuild the country in the same context.
The minister observed that Pakistan had been wading through turbulent waters and it was imperative to establish the rule of law and Constitution in the country.
In response to a question Marriyum said that PPP had rendered sacrifices for democracy and expressed the hope that it would not hesitate from playing its role to strengthen the rule of the people.
In regards to a question about the proposal of national dialogue by the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, she said that it was meant to establish ascendency of the Constitution and safeguarding the sanctity of the people’s vote.
The conference was attended by Advisor to the Prime Minister for National History and Herritage Irfan Siddiqi, secretary of the concerned division Amir Hussain, ambassadors from Islamic countries including Turkey and calligraphists from Muslim countries.
