Social sciences

cultural tour to Islamabad

22/05/2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.Acknowledgement ........................................................................................................................2 2. Visit to nips (national institute of Pakistan studies) ....................................................................3 3. Visit to main campus:- .................................................................................................................4 4.Visit to Pakistan monument Pakistan monument museum, Islamabad .........................................4 5. Visit to lok virsa ..........................................................................................................................6 6. Critical note ................................................................................................................................7

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Social sciences

cultural tour to Islamabad

22/05/2012

Acknowledgement:-

We are thankful to our maam of social sciences Mam NAILA MAQSOOD for arranging the cultural trip to Islamabad. The visit to Quaid e Azam University was not possible without her. All the material used in this report is my own work and is not copied from anywhere.

____________________ Ahsan Ali 08-EE-50

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Social sciences

cultural tour to Islamabad

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(2). VISIT TO NIPS (NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF PAKISTAN STUDIES):We arrived at NIPS at about 11.30 a.m. It is quite far from the main campus of Quaid e Azam University. Students were quite astonished and annoyed by watching the site and location of the campus because there was no site of amusement after a small waiting at last we entered the campus it was a small department of a square type building of single story and beautifully maintained and visited the library where one of the staff member made us know about the research being done at the university also the different journals being published. After that many of the students also took a quick visit of the library having 3-4 columns of cupboards of books. Then one of assistant professors of NIPS DR ARIF MAHMOOD (also the one day teacher of our maam but according to teacher he has not forgotten his student) gave us a lecture on the functioning and academic Figure 01 VISIT OF UET STUDENTS TO NIPS

explanations regarding the NIPS. He told us that all the other institution in PAKISTAN gave knowledge of just history it is the only institute in Pakistan which has a reputation of giving not only the history but also the future and knowledge of all areas regarding Pakistan studies. He told us that an average of 30 regular students are selected for MSc after
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Figure 02: INSIDE VIEW

Social sciences

cultural tour to Islamabad

22/05/2012

test and average of 8 for MPhil and the number remains the same for PhDs He also told us the difficulties being faced by the campus regarding affiliation with the university. And at the end he asked for students for questions and the reply was as expected from UETIANS i.e., NO and the usual behavior showed up by taking each others snaps and ended their visit to home institution of our teacher. Figure 03: OUTSIDE VIEW

(3). VISIT TO MAIN CAMPUS:We had plans of visiting the social sciences department but didnt get the chance to visit it. Then, we had a quick view of the central library and offered our prayers at the JAMIA MOSQUE.

(4). VISIT TO PAKISTAN MONUMENT & PAKISTAN MONUMENT MUSEUM, ISLAMABAD

Our third destination on our cultural trip was the Pakistan monument and Pakistan monument museum. The Pakistan

Monument set on the top of the Shakar Parian Hills overlooks the heart of Islamabad in an inspiring fashion. The thematic museum is divided into various sections (struggle, realization etc.) of prepartition history, setup in a chronological order. The museum also hosts now few relics of Iqbal and Jinnah in the two separate rooms, which we believe have been brought on loan from the Wazir Mansion through Quaid-e-Azam Figure 04: VISIT OF UETIANS TO PAKISTAN MONUMENT MUSEUM
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Academy and Iqbal Manzil in Sialkot.

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cultural tour to Islamabad

22/05/2012

There is also a library containing rare manuscripts and some popular books published on the subject. The displays and statues are really fascinating and deserve commendation with the centerpiece being a magnificent buggy with the founder of the nation and Madr-e-Millat Fatima Jinnah. Life size displays of events are extremely fruitful in passing down lessons of history to the newer generation and the Ministry of Culture deserves all out praise for executing the project in the most beautiful manner. The first section is titled Arrival of the Muslims 712 A.D., the first display in the section is that of the Indus valley civilization and Gandhara art clearly expressing that we have a long, illustrious history much before the Arabs came to India. Even a Buddha statue finds a place before the much revered heroes like Mohammad bin Qasim and Mahmood Ghaznavi. The War of Independence is described as having been fought by the Indian people, the Jinnah-Gandhi talks feature prominently in the displays, the much harkened-about August 11 speech of Jinnah is written at two places in the museum, Gandhis Satyagraha gets an honorable mention.

Figure 05: inside PAKISTAN MONUMENT MUSEUM In the upper gallery, categories like sports, culture, women development, minorities, music, education, health, and of course the armed forces find space in form of pictorial boards and running video films on the LCDs. The major attractions to watch out in the upper gallery are the musical map and sufi map of Pakistan.

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Social sciences

cultural tour to Islamabad

22/05/2012

Right beside the entrance of the museum there is an Audio/Visual section, which has desktop computers all connected to a local network hosting wide-ranging documentaries from ISPR, popular dramas, old music collection (including Roshan Ara Begum and Begum Akhtar), and rare photographs. There is a small film-screening hall, which have been showing the film Jinnah and other films on requests

(5). VISIT TO LOK VIRSA:At 4.30 p.m. we reached our final destination of lok virsa. This museum of Lok Virsa Heritage has lots of collection of heritage of Pakistan, cultural history and ethnographic details. This museum has a huge collection of exhibition from all the four provinces of the country which includes the local handicrafts, costumes and musical instruments. There is also display of documents and folklore of Pakistan. There is also a library and a shop in the museum. The museum is divided into various sections: FIGURE 06: VISIT OF UETIANS TO LOK VIRSA MUSEUM

(1) The older civilizations of Mehrgarh, Indus, Gandhara and Muslim culture (2) The civilizations of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan,and Khyber Pakhtun khawa. (3) The ancient folk tales displays. (4) Different kinds of impressioning, and wood carving. (5) Sufism (6) Muslim architecture (7) Cultural festivals of all the provinces
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Social sciences

cultural tour to Islamabad

22/05/2012

(8) Living ways of all provinces and of different areas remotely known to us all. (9) Ornaments of all cultures from all areas of Pakistan (10) Relationship of Pakistani culture to Central Asian countries and china (11) Music tools and other historical artifacts (12) Marriage ceremonies etc.

Figure 07: LOK VIRSA MUSEUM

(6).CRITICAL NOTE:
As a whole we watch that is a lot of cultural diversity in our country. We have a bright history. Pakistan monument museum is a very good place It however appears that the floors were handled by different bureaucrats since the one handed out to work on the bottom floor the historical one did an awesome job, while the upper floor has its share of disappointments where different organizations were given separate boards. Monuments, museums, institutes of artifacts and public exhibits in general are rare in Pakistan. The Pakistan Monument and the associated museum stand out as gems that need to be emulated across the country on various themes and provide the public venues of entertainment, leisure and learning as well. Keeping these gems of public property in their best shape is the publics job too, but as it so happens there is little ownership of such things in the country.
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