KARACHI: For the first time in the history of Pakistan a ‘Sindh festival’ is going to be organised from February 2014, aiming to promote, protect and preserve one of the richest cultures of the world: the Indus Civilisation.
“We are promoting the culture of peace, while terrorists want to impose their culture through the barrel of a gun,” said Pakistan Peoples Party Patron-in-Chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari at a ceremony Sunday evening.
The Sindh festival, which will be hosted by Bilawal and his sister, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, will start from Mohenjo-Daro and will end at Keenjhar Lake. It will feature events such as a horse and cattle grand prix, grand mushairas [in Sindhi and Urdu], music nights, Sindh fashion festival, Sindh international film festival, Karachi literature festival, a children’s festival and a Basant festival.
“Our heritage is under threat,” Bilawal said while unveiling the features of the Sindh festival. A ‘fictionalised and imported’ culture is being imposed on Pakistan “despite the fact that the country has its own rich cultural heritage”, he added.
“Terrorists want Pakistan to have a primitive society… It is up to us to preserve our own history and culture,” Bilawal said. “I’m proud to be a Sindhi, Muslim and Pakistani… Let’s preserve, protect and promote Sindh. Let’s preserve, protect and promote Pakistan’s heritage,” he added.
Bilawal stressed that the Sindh festival would be an ‘apolitical’ festival. “Every citizen of Pakistan… [including] Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter, Imran Khan and members of all political parties… are invited to the Sindh festival,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2013
COMMENTS (63)
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Bad comments come from jealous one's .Good Step bilawal. Long Live Sindh.
Good job :). Hopefully Indians get to participate in such a festival too, to send out broader message for peace.
Brave youngest leader of Pakistan. Very talented boy! His talent at Mohata Palace and a few speeches before that proved he has defeated Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif and all those who still follow traditional political way. He has brought a new culture into Pakistani polity! Don't chant slogan of Bhutto but Bilawal, Bilawal, Bilawal, Bilawal...
This is ridiculous.
Why the superman logo is copied, can't get something more ethnic Sindhi and original....fire the agency... this is a disgrace
This radical fringe of secular Sindhi ethnic extremists don't realize what it means to be proud of your culture. Being proud of your culture doesn't mean abusing another one. Unfortunately people who are not knowledgeable about Islam or loyal to Pakistan's unity can never be proud of anything. Don't blame others for your troubles but stand on your own two feet. That is the real meaning of being proud. Don't blame Muhajirs, Pashtuns, Baloch, or Punjabis for your own problems.
Tried to hold my tongue for as long as I could but could not believe the bile spewing from ignoramuses above. How do you define a sindhi? Not through the narrow minded prism our media has artificially created...e.g I went to a progressive school in Karachi in the 87-90 And used hear, sindhi marro haathe me Jharo' from punjabi and Urdu speaking students all the time. This bullying continued until I realised that I was actually being picked on as I was an aboriginal of this land, compared to them as being the eligimate children of the proud Sikhs (in the case of punjabis) and possibly progeny of the scheduled castes (majority of the Urdu speaking) they had no real ancestry or roots to be proud of which is why so many of them claim to be descended from Arabs or central Asians. Maturity brought wisdom with it and in the case of many paindos broken teeth and my bruised fist would suffice...
O I thought Punjab is the only province that can party it up and Karachi and Sindh are left for violence and tragedies. this will come as a surprise to the people of karachi and sindh who havent had a day of relief. thank you for doing this.
Bilawal's check list:
Grow up in Dubai and England ..... check Spend most of my time outside Sindh/Pakistan ... check Get a degree in British history not, Sindhi/Indian history at Oxford .... check Not learn Sindhi or proper Urdu .... check Never mingle with common Sindhi people .... check Come up with the idea to promote Sindhi culture, albeit in English .... check Copy Marvel symbol for Superman to represent Sindhi culture .... check Inaugurate the festival wearing Western clothing and a language that 90% of Sindhis dont' know ..... check.
Jeaay Bhutto.
Gul Khan is waiting for you in KP. Please give such performance in KP as well.
Best of luck Bilawal.We are with you.
Well this is not relevant to the topic but is it just me or does he always looks like a drunk eunuch most of the time. Plus the way he talks and the gestures and expressions he uses. It would be such a disgrace if God forbid he ever became a leader. It would be such a shame..
@go zardari go: Why are you showing such surprise if sindhis wear Jeans and shirt? What are you? Punjabi, Baloch, Pathan, Urdu speaking? Don't you wear jeans and shirt? Why does everyone have a problem if sindhis do something to preserve their culture? And where is it written then if you belong to a particular province then you can't dress differently? Sindh embraces all cultures. Sindh has given so many job and business opportunities to various ethnicities. Yet, Sindhis themselves are bashed by the people who have left their own provinces and eating out of food that grows here in Sindh. Corruption, politics, rivalries and hatred aside, can't we just accept and tolerate one another's culture?
ET you have to publish this comment!
@RealBloch: Sindh is in Pakistan .. Isn't it?Wwhy are you getting so agitated when Sindh's name is being taken.
@salman: Interesting question
Back to original roots. Playing Sindh card AGAIN!!!
Humm...not too briliant, seems ok but why u want the culture to be influenced by hollywood
"Terrorists want Pakistan to have a primitive society… It is up to us to preserve our own history and culture"
As opposed to the feudal lords who want to turn Pakistan into a modern society and are pushing for literacy, woman's emancipation, workers rights, equality, justice and want to abolish absurd ancient traditions & customs like honor killings etc ...
Great step Bilawal and Bakhtawar! All encouragement to promote culture, job creation, welfare of the needy - a step in the right direction! You show care for the common man as your mother for which she is widely loved in Pakistan amongst the downtrodden. Wish you all the Best..
good & innovative way to initiate getting in touch with people - way to go bilawal!
@Ali: This is why Kalabagh dam should never be built. Otherwise the rural sindh will not have a drop of water.
@sick of this nonsense: @Naim: I think we need to prioritize the things, i am not against the festivals, but on the same time i want the concrete steps to eradicate poverty from the rural Sind, Where People don't have drinking water.
@Mirza:
Well said, but the main problem in Pakistan is that political people never learn from their past or they dont have the baility of understanding.The old ethnic cards will get new name in elections 2018.
@Naim Aziz ! well said buddy
The dilemma of Pakistani Politics is to promote ethnic elements with new name and brands. Those are emcouraging this step today will feel its consequence in future.
another political stunt
Bilawal..........we pray for your peace plan to be successful but be careful of the hydra-headed snakes in your party. Tell me Bilawal..........what's with the Superman logo? Salams
Great Idea and something to be appreciated. We have very few such events and an annual event like this can make lots of differences. This is better then protesting all the time whcih PTI and IK continue to do. These festivals create economic activity which in turn creates jobs.
If all 4 provinces take the same lead, we will have 4 festivals in a year highlighting the finer points of Pakistan. Promote tourism as it will bring is foreign exchange and improve job opportunities and businesses.
A Festivus! A Festivus for the rest of us.
@go zardari go: Have you seen Jinnah wearing the Pak national dress?
Cross Khairpur bridge just around 10 kilometers from Larkana city and rule of dacoits start especially after evening when public transport ceases to travel or travel in convoys, this is Sind after more than 5 years of corruption party rule, why doesn't this "politician" first talk about the real issues haunting sind
Its all on public tax money or from zardari's money. Please clarify it.
Superman logo is copyrighted. Im certain these kids dont know. They know nothing anyways.
Some say Bilawal should not talk about Sindh and Pakistan. They would rather want him to live overseas like the families of other political leaders and totally give up his own heritage and culture. Some want to continue to suppress Sindhi and Balochi cultures it makes them furious to see Bilawal coming back to Pakistan like his grandfather and mother and fight for the rights of smaller provinces. People of Sindh know who is with them and who is not. Hatred of Sindh and its heritage would not win votes in Sindh.
He is naive. Indifferent of what's going on in the country and word "Priority" doesn't exist in his dictionary.
There is nothing wrong in promoting our culture and heritage especially if people of Sindh are happy and included. I am afraid there would be deluge of hatred against the son of Sindh for making sense and talking about his national heritage. Some people would make a big deal of him being Sindhi first then Muslim then Pakistani. But here is an example: Bengali were born as Bengali with their own culture, after a few years of age they became Muslim and then Pakistani. Then they changed their nationality but they still remain Bengali and Muslims.
@faizaan: why the hate? agreed with you 100% that education, water, health, sanitation are non existant in most parts of pakistan and something should definitely be done for them but the objective here is to promote good will and image building. bilawal should be appreciated for that.
By the way what is the copyrighted "Superman" logo is about in a Sindh cultural show? Does he have to borow ideas for Indus Civilisation?
strong text“Our heritage is under threat,” Bilawal said while unveiling the features of the Sindh festival. A ‘fictionalised and imported’ culture is being imposed on Pakistan “despite the fact that the country has its own rich cultural heritage”.strong text His speech wasn't in Sindhi, How Ironic.
This is a festival to encourage Sindhi culture and at the same time bring jobs and income without any real expense to the govt. The real purpose and the reason why ambassadors were invited and the speeches were in English was to invite foreigners and attract visitors.
They are so use to stealing that they even stole Superman's logo.. #RipCreativity
The picture reminds me of Bill Gates, when he used to launch windows or other microsoft products. Mr. Bilawal Zardari is relaunching Ajrak..........
if you are serious to protect the rich heritage of Sindh, for thousand of years being an integral part of the great Indian heritage... the moment we Sindhis link ourselves with our thousand year history with India, we are comfortable in our skins... the moment these leaders and establishment want to impose a fake slavish medieval nomadic inferior Arab culture on us, we lose our identity, like the rest of pak.. save Sindhi people, save Sindhudesh..
At least come up with an original logo.. or did you get permission from DC comics to use the superman logo?
First fix Sindh please, you have the power and ability but you would rather waste it and sit in a nice house in Dubai enjoying a luxurious life whilst the people who vote for you (I don't just to add that in there) suffer at this cost. But if this is a genuine effort with no other motive but for Pakistan's benefit then I wish him the best of luck.
how about showing up in a pakistan festival rather than just a sindh festival. these kids, like benazir, have no clue about how the average person in pakistan or sindh lives and no care about the problems they face.
Looks like a nice school project. Well done Bilawal Bhutto, jiya BB.
@ faizaan You may be right but Does that mean that we stop celebrating the good things in our lives,our culture and our country? Don't you wear new clothes despite the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of people who don't have access to warm clothes in this winter?
Does he not realize that his father is Ethnically a Baloch?
A very brave and reasonable step.
Its like he is ceasar. 100 days of festivities. I didnt know the sindhi dress was pants and t shirt.
Its ‘Sindh festival’ but do not understand why they speak in ENGLISH?How many ppl understand it ?LEAST ITS IN SINDHI OR IN URDU LANGUAGE, MR. Bilawal.plz learn sindhi Urdu Punjabi nd Pashto.Then enter in PAK POLITICS.
Good. One can hope that the Sindh Festival will actually promote Sindhi culture because this ceremony did not look Sindhi one bit with the English talk/English get up by Bilawil Zardari.
Well conceived!
superman sindh festival. :)
The 'S' logo looks very familiar....hmmmm I wonder where I've seen it .....spiderman may be?
Does this person have any clue, that the people of Sindh with no access to education, water, sanitation will find any meaning to this extravaganza??