Muhammad Arif Tangi
After 18th Amendment the subject “culture” has been devolved to the provinces which mean that provincial governments have the authority to work for the revival, promotion and preservation of the indigenous cultural heritage. In this connection, the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has taken some very positive measures that include: among other things, reopening of Nishtar Hall Peshawar for cultural activities and setting up Directorate of Culture. The unprecedented cultural activism in the province under the Directorate of Culture, Ministry of Information, Public Relation and Culture is highly commendable. However, a few points should be immediately addressed by the present government so that these good efforts are sustained in the coming days and serve as model for the rest of the country.
The culture of the province has been suffering at the hand of extremist forces and terrorism which are hell bent on destroying cultural diversity by replacing it with obscurantism and violence. For sustainable peace in the province culture should be considered as “agent for social change” and efforts shall be made for the reinvigoration of the dismantled cultural heritage.
The Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa must work out a “culture policy” for the province. Culture policy shall be the relevant legislation or legal document for the revival, promotion and preservation of both tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the province. The policy shall appreciate the diverse culture of the province and any direct or indirect threat to this culture shall be deftly estimated as unlawful. Thus the policy shall aim at providing legal protection to cultural heritage, cultural institutions and cultural activities. Besides safeguarding fundamental human rights of the citizen as envisaged in the constitution of Pakistan, the policy shall discourage all negative cultural practices and devise concrete objectives for promoting positive cultural values such as pluralism and democratization.
The policy shall help provide an enabling environment for the education and promotion of the indigenous languages, literatures, arts, crafts and folklore. Artists, artisans, craftsmen and people related to the promotion of culture shall be declared as “productive assets”. Productive cultural activities, cultural marketing and related businesses shall also be regularized. The policy document shall include references and provisions for relevant administrative and financial matters.
On planning and strategic levels, the policy shall devise recommendations for increased budgetary allocation and reciprocal revenue generation through marketing and taxation. This shall be achieved through a step by step strategy of investing in the productive culture sector and culture education. Exploring markets for indigenous arts and crafts shall also be pursued. Efforts shall be made for increasing access to the new media by establishing state of the art studios.
Quality productions and publications should be encouraged. All this shall be achieved through coordination among different departments such as education, agriculture, tourism, industry, environment and the private sector etc.
For the administration and management of culture implementable structures shall be formulated. The existing structures for the management of the subject “culture” at the provincial level need to be revisited. Currently two separate directorates under two separate ministries are operating for dealing with the subject “culture”.
The Directorate of Museum and Archives which deals with the tangible cultural heritage works under “Sports, Tourism, Archeology and Museum Department.” The Directorate of Culture which deals with intangible cultural heritage is working under “Information, Public Relation and Culture Department.”
If both tangible and intangible cultural heritage are included under one department many administrative problems shall be corrected and duplication shall be avoided. Administrative structures may also be devised at the divisional or district level.
The culture policy should be specifically mindful of the financial and technical risks. Keeping in view the security concerns of the province it is very likely that the government would find it difficult to allocate increased budget for the culture. To mitigate this risk the policy should recommend transparent procedures for public-private partnership.
It is pertinent to mention that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Norway has been sponsoring culture activities in the province and the provincial government may get support from such donors. Another risk in the implementation of culture activities would remain lack of technical skills of the staff of the culture department. The policy should also allow for capacity building of the staff of the culture department or relevant ministry.
On operational level, the existing efforts by the provincial government are highly commendable and need to be sustained. In order to sustain these activities, the policy should recommend immediate measures for conducting Culture Mapping of the province on emergency footing. Culture Mapping is the modern technique for the identification of cultural heritage.
Under this technique not only archaeological sites in the province would be identified but a complete database about the languages, values and traditions of different areas would be made available through software and official website. The data would be helpful in the exchange of information and social development. The Culture Mapping system introduced by UNESCO in 2007 with the support of Royal Norwegian Embassy Islamabad had successfully documented four districts of the province namely Peshawar, Mardan, Mansehra and Chitral.
The Bacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation, Peshawar with the support of Royal Norwegian Embassy, Islamabad has also devised Management Information System for documenting culture in nine districts of the province.
This system is already shared with the Directorate of Culture Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and a “culture directory” of artists, artisans and craftsmen is completed by the Directorate of Culture.
This is the first ever attempt by the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for documenting people related to culture and it truly deserves our appreciation. However, a complete Culture Mapping would greatly contribute towards sustained cultural activism in the province.
Finally, the culture policy should seek sustained institutionalization at the grassroots level. Art councils, literary circles and traditional cultural institutions should be strengthened.
Culture exchange and interaction among different communities in the province should be increased. Culture should be introduced at schools level so that indigenous wisdom and creativity are transferred to our posterity.
The Bacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation, Peshawar with the support of Royal Norwegian Embassy, Islamabad has successfully implemented culture education in all its schools. This model deserves to be replicated. Publicity of all these good efforts and other positive cultural values would greatly contribute towards behavioral change for peace and economic prosperity in the province.
