KARACHI: The caretaker Federal Minister for National Heritage and Culture Jamal Shah said on Friday that the People’s Republic of China and Korea have agreed upon helping Pakistan in preservation, promotion, digitalization and 3D scanning of built cultural heritage sites from Mehergarh to Gandhara, and beyond.

Talking to reporters during his visit to National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA), the minister said that the China and Korea are also willing to support Pakistan for the capacity building of museums.

“We are going to hold a conference to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) soon,” Jamal Shah said.

He asked provincial governments to take care of listed buildings and protect and preserve them especially from the “builder mafia”. Cultural buildings should only be utilized for cultural activities.

To a query regarding funding for NAPA, he said the funding is very minimal. Art sector has huge potential in Pakistan; however its realization is a must. People associated with the Art and Architecture must think futuristically, and work for generation of funds on their own.

NAPA is a heritage of performing arts in Pakistan. The Academy has come a long way. Its graduates are teaching arts, and music at different institutes. They are also making great contributions in terms of direction, production, and designing at different television channels, and showbiz industry in the country.

NAPA still needs help from society and the government. Today, we have discussed a range of issues, and have taken some decisions which will give good results in near future.

We want to see NAPA a financially functional institute. The office bearers of NAPA are making efforts to get a place somewhere in the city to set up a purpose-built institute. For which, they require funds and capacity, he said.

He also stressed the need upon enhancing Cinemas in the country. We have less than 150 cinemas and 80 percent of those are so expensive that common men can’t buy tickets. We need to have as many as 5000 cinemas to cater the need of the 240 million people.

Cinemas are regarded as effective means of communication worldwide. It entertains and motivates us to improve our society. He said the artists should be empowered financially so that they may not seek financial help in the time of need.

The Chairman NAPA, Syed Jawaid Iqbal, CEO Junaid Zuberi besides Writer Javed Jabbar and others were also present on this occasion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023