Daily Times

LAHORE: The newly built Greater Iqbal Park is set to host the Punjab Gilgit-Baltistan Fusion Festival 2017 which will be kicked off at the Alhamra Arts Council today (Thursday).

This was said by Walled City Lahore Authority Director General Kamran Lashari during a press conference at the Alhamra Adbi Betkh on Wednesday. Lahore Arts Council Executive Director Captain (R) Atta Muhammad Khan, Alhamra’s Arts and Culture Director Zulfiqar Ali Zulfi and WCLA Deputy Director Tania Qureshi were also present.

Kamran Lashari, who is also the Lahore Arts Council Baord of Governor’s chairman said, “We have focused on traditional and folk dances, crafts and food of GB which will be presented to Lahoris.” He said that a special team was working day to make the event a success.

To a query, he said, “We have selected GB for the event owing to its rich culture.” He said that almost 15 artist would be participating from GB along with other crew members. He said that the festival would be opened for everyone, but entry would not be allowed without free invitation passes, which can be obtained from the Alhamra Office Mall Road and the WCLA Office.

“We are presenting a blend of two cultures, cuisine, folklores, handicrafts and much more which citizens should not miss.” He appealed to citizens to join this festival to a mixture of two cultures.

He said that need to enhance the inter-provincial relations between Punjab and GB must be taken to the next step and such cultural awareness programs could play a vital role to bridge the gap among the provinces.

Speaking on the occasion, Captain (r) Atta Muhammad Khan said, “Such festivals are not only the best representation of the merged image of the collaborative Pakistani culture, but it also provides a valuable platform to highlight the culture, values, traditions and colours of the individual provinces.” He mentioned a variety of such festivals in the recent future to bring the nation at a harmonic platform where everything would be labelled and recognized as Pakistani, and added that the Punjab Gilgit-Baltistan is the first in the list.

It may be mentioned that the Greater Iqbal Park will get its first enormous festival being held jointly by the Walled City Lahore Authority (WCLA) and the Lahore Arts Council in cooperation with the Gilgit-Baltistan government.