Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on National History and Literary Heritage Irfan Siddiqui Thursday announced that foundation stone of ‘National Museum of Pakistan’ will be laid in the federal capital early next year.

He was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of week-long exhibition titled ‘Cultural Heritage of Pakistan’ kicked off at Islamabad Museum. The exhibition was arranged by Department of Archaeology and Museums as part of 70th independence anniversary celebrations of Pakistan.

Addressing the gathering, Siddiqui said that his division has acquired necessary funds for establishing the state-of-the-art museum to be built at three and a half acres of land allocated at Shakarparian, adjacent to the Lok Virsa. He said the necessity for having a national museum has been felt since long and it would help preserve the rich cultural heritage of the country for next generations.

Siddiqui said Pakistan has traces of human activities during the Stone Age period. The Indus Valley, Gandhara and Islamic civilizations are some glimpses of glorious and rich cultural heritage of the region.

He said with the continuous efforts of experts, Pakistan has the honour to save six archaeological sites on World Heritage list of UNESCO which is a huge success. Pakistan has also registered 26 archaeological sites on tentative list of UNESCO out of which eight sites were registered during the last year with the efforts of this division, he said.

Siddiqui said museums are repositories of a nation’s cultural heritage through which the visitors from home and abroad can gain insight into rich fabric of the past which help determine their present and future.

Published in Daily Times, December 8^th 2017.