Renovated auditorium inaugurated at PNCA
People admire the artwork of the students of Arts Council Institute of Arts and Crafts which opened at the Arts Council of Pakistan on Monday. Photo: Express
A renovated auditorium was inaugurated by Adviser to Prime Minister on Political and Public Affairs, National Heritage and Culture Division Engineer Amir Muqam at Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) on Tuesday.
The director general and other senior officials of PNCA briefed him about the renovation, installation of latest equipment and modern seating arrangement in the auditorium. Addressing the inauguration ceremony, Amir Muqam said that the current government was determined to highlight the country's national heritage and culture.
He said that PNCA aimed to build an environment conducive to the flourishing of arts which were accessible to everyone, adding that artists had the commitment and resource to excel at home and on the world stage. He directed the PNCA to focus on the promotion of art and culture of all four provinces with the aim to promote the soft image of the country.
The adviser assured of his full support in projecting the country's culture and heritage at national and international level. Muqam said that PNCA should play a far more active role in promoting art and culture so that it could get international recognition and people from various parts of the world visit Pakistan.
Speaking about September 6, he said that it was the day for paying tribute to the martyrs who laid down their lives for the defence of the country. He said, "Let us pledge that we will defeat all internal and external threats through our unity as we did back in 1965”. The 1965 war, he said, was a glorious chapter in the defence history of the country as Pak Army set magnificent examples of bravery on every front.
He said that the entire country including Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was affected due to flash floods and torrential rains. The floods had caused human losses, damaged roads and infrastructure across the country. He further said that the flood caused huge losses in Swat, Kalam and southern belt of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The adviser praised the leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and the armed forces for their rescue and relief operations in the flood-hit areas.
He said that under the leadership of the prime minister, all the departments were collectively working for rehabilitation of flood affected people. He said that some people were doing politics in this testing time, when everyone should focus on the relief work. The Pakistani nation, he said, was resilient and collectively working for the rehabilitation of the flood affected people, as unprecedented rains played havoc across most of the country, resulting in loss of precious lives and massive destruction all around.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2022.