National Monument Museum opens

The newly inaugurated Pakistan National Monument Museum contains this sculpture of Quaid-i-Azam and Fatima Jinnah on a horse carriage. Photo: Muhammad Javaid

ISLAMABAD: 

The National Monument Museum opened for public here at Shakarparian on Thursday. Conceptualised, designed and created by the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage, Lok Virsa, the museum depicts the country’s history, struggle for freedom, emergence and development.

A large number of visitors including foreigners filled the museum on its first day. A group of 12 girls, students from Beaconhouse School System, presented a national song.

Khalid Javaid, Executive Director, Lok Virsa said, “The prime objective of this museum is to explain Pakistan in a historical perspective to the young and the old.”

The segments displayed in the museum include Indus Valley civilization, arrival of Islam and role of Sufism in the sub-continent, 1857 War of Independence, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Iqbal in Cordoba Mosque, Iqbals’s address in Allahabad, the Lahore Resolution, Gandhi – Jinnah talks, independence and migration 1947, Quaid as a lawyer, Quaid’s address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, Quaid and Iqbal’s galleries of relics, a display on freedom fighters and a segment on national achievements after independence.

The museum also has the facility of a reference library, documentation centre, audio visual archive and media centre to cater to the requirements of the visitors, in particular students, researchers, scholars, and writers.

Federal Secretary for Culture Moinul Islam Bukhari said, “Pakistan is a seat of the world’s oldest civilisations like Monejodaro, Harappa and Taxila. The culture of Pakistan has been immensely influenced by these civilizations.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2010.