PESHAWAR: Vanishing History, the first-ever Pashto and English documentary was screened in Peshawar Press Club during a simple but impressive ceremony on Tuesday.
Provincial government representatives, officials of the Museum and Archives department, culturists and art lovers and representatives of the civil society attended the ceremony. The 13-minute long documentary is highlighting the importance of 2000 years old historical sites of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Alongside, the video documentary is also highlighting the lack of awareness among people about their history and historical sites.
Participants of the ceremony urged the need for awareness among people about the importance of historical sites which, they said, is the only way to ensure preservation of sites such as Takht Bhai, Seri Behlol, ButhKada in Saidu Sharif of Swat and others.
The main focus of the English and Pashto documentary is to create awareness among people and to push the federal and provincial government to come forward for better management of the nearly 6,000 historical sites in Khyber Pakhtunkwa, once known as Gandhara.
The main theme of the documentary is revolving around the character of a Swat-based school teacher Usman Ulasyar, who was arrested and jailed by the Taliban for stopping local boys from playing cricket amid a historical site. Usman is still struggling to protect one such site just in front of his house in Saidu Sharif, Swat.
The documentary is produced by Mashaal Radios Senior Editor Daud Khattak, who said that this fascinating history and the historical sites are carrying a message of religious tolerance where several religions were living in this region of Gandhara together with complete peace and harmony.
Khattak said that the documentary has already been produced in English and Pashto versions while its Persian and Russian versions will be released soon. Alongside, a mini-website has already been developed to make the 13-minute long documentary fit to use for social media i.e. facebook and twitter.
Speaking on the occasion, Director of Museums and Archives Dr. Abdul Samad stressed the need for launching campaigns to create awareness among people about the importance of historical sites. We have 6000 historical sites across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Each site needs at least three security guards to protect it. But this is beyond capacity of the department. Hence, better to create awareness among people to preserve their history themselves, said Dr. Samad.
Professor AbaseenYousufzai, on this occasion, appreciated the documentary and said the rich history and culture of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa needs to be presented to the younger generations to let them know about the history of this region.
Mr. Yousufzai added that the ruins of Takht Bhai, for example, should not be seen just as ruins. Here is the history of a rich multicultural civilization which gives teaches us how to live in peace and harmony with others.
Director of Strengthening of Culture Directorate Naeem Safi highlighted the efforts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to preserve the historical sites by creating awareness among people. Safi also informed about the legal measures undertaken by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to punish those who were found harming the historical sites.
Fazle Khaliq, a Swat-based culturist said that the government not only take strict measures to preserve the sites, but also include information about the sites in the text books.
Dr. Adil Zareef, another Peshawar-based culturist urged the need for increasing the ratio of culture reporting in the media. Khalid Ayub, head of the Karwan organization and a social worker, demanded of the provincial authorities to constitute a committee comprising experts and art lovers from different fields to suggest measures for the protection of historical sites.
Principal of College of Art in Abdul Wali Khan University Professor Abdul Sattar observed that the documentary was appreciative from all aspects. Mr. Sattar said that this should be an example for local media to come out with creative work.
The filming of the Vanishing History documentary was completed in May 2016.
