Rawalpindi: (Parliament Times) The Rawalpindi Arts Council (RAC) organized a dialogue on the draft Art and Culture Policy Framework for Punjab in which artists of the Potohar region belonging to all forms of art and culture took part and gave their suggestions and input. They declared the policy a forward-looking step which will not only help promote culture but also ensure economic protection of the artists. Naheed Manzoor, Resident Director RAC Waqar Ahmed, Sarfraz Shahid, Masood Khawaja, Aftab Ahmed Khan, Dr Rawish Nadeem, Quyyum Tahir, Dr Zahid Chughtai, Shabir Mirza, Shakila Jalil, Fahim Anwar, Dr Arshad Meraj, Prof Shehbaz Ali, Anjum Hababi, Afshan Sheraz Khan, Rabia Tabbasum, Ashfaq Saleem Mirza, Zulfiqar Baig, Jehangir Imran, Khalid Siddique and others.
Naheed Manzoor said the promotion of culture is not the sole responsibility of the government but every segments of society should play their role for this purpose because promotion of culture guarantees improvement in social outlook. Senior poet Sarfraz Shahid said the economic security of artist is the significant part of the policy and this policy will help protect culture and will introduce the youth to our culture. Aftab Ahmed Khan said the Punjab government has taken historic measure by drafting new culture policy.
Resident Director RAC Waqar Ahmed said promotion of cultural education, setting up of culture information centers, provision of material of the promotion of regional languages, creating close link with culture reporters, and setting up of arts council at district and tehsil levels are salient features of the draft policy. He said arts councils are functional in all nine divisions of Punjab and efforts are underway to establish arts council in eight districts and work on them will start during the current financial year. He said under the draft culture policy local filmmakers will be encouraged, FM radio channel will be set up, while digital art will also be promoted. He said culture policy is being drafted with cooperation with all stakeholders and consultations are being made at every level. On this occasion participants gave their input on the policy.
