Neyaish Tauseef
The era of race of cultural prepotency to illustrate the positive image of a country is on its peak. Each country is trying to present the best of its culture to the world under the elegant name of “Cultural Diplomacy”. A way of attracting the world wide public and portraying the positive image of the country before them is the present time’s keen desire of the countries world crosswise. Astonishingly, the cultural diplomacy has been practiced since ages but the traditional security emphasis left these measures behind somewhere. Now, the world is engaged in so many serious conflicts and to avoid them non-traditional security measures are more often signified.
The cultural interactions of Pakistan and China regarding the Cultural Diplomacy are the way to achieve cultural recognition in both countries. The CPEC brings boom of China’s language and cuisine with it. The cultural festivals such as, the Lantern Festival is elevating the culture of China among the Pakistani public. There should be a way round, the Pakistani culture should also be honored and practiced in China with the similar pace also. These Chinese ambitions increase the understanding of their culture among the Pakistanis many folds which is a positive impact on their soft image building. There is a need not to limit such drives to China but also resource them in collaboration with other countries.
Pakistan and India share history, culture, norms and values most in the Asia. If the genuine efforts are made the cultural collaboration will leads to better relations among the neighbors. The shuffling of people-to-people ties between the neighboring states was way better through the Kartarpur Corridor initiative. The open door given to Indian Sikhs to visit the Holy Shrine was undoubtedly an impactful move towards the Cultural Diplomacy. The artists of the both countries hooked up many times throughout the post-Independence history. The Cultural Cooperation Agreement signed in 1988 and Memorandum of Understanding on Cultural Cooperation of 2012, needs to be emend for the sake of cultural cooperation among the two.
The Ministry of Culture and Heritage, Pakistan is stimulating the cultural diplomacy through the mean of cultural exchange program. These programs are usually architected bilaterally for the public-to-public interactions and magnify the positive image of the Pakistan. The cultural diplomacy exchange programs are organized with Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and America habitually. The cultural festivals are now motivated towards gaining more limelight on social and digital media. This eventually increases the familiarity of the Pakistani culture in the world.
The National Institute on Cultural Study working under the Ministry of Culture and Heritage contributes in education and research in the domain of the cultural diplomacy. This provides with an exceptional understanding of what public wants and what to do to the authorities. Once, the objectives are clear and well-defined, the way of implementation became easy to cross. Under the Ministry of Culture and Heritage the “Pakistan Cultural Week” and “Pakistan Heritage Day” are held to promote the culture of Pakistan.
The social media has provided us an effortless access to the world’s public. We need to share and spread the fragrance of our diverse culture across the world. Undoubtedly, the measures are being taken but they are not enough to join the race and compete with the other countries. Also the measures lack public interaction and direct contact. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan is still on the way of using social and digital media for the cultural promotion. Pakistan is blessed with the versatile talent in ever field; the need is only to utilize it in meaningful ways.
What Pakistan need is not to border these drives to the specific countries but to expand them across the world. Pakistan is in a need of detaching the negatives tags from it. The time is to foster a positive image before the world and appeal the world’s public. The youth all over the world should be invited to make them familiar of Pakistani culture. It is acknowledged more capable to bring change through the minds of youth. The world is now just away from us on a single click; the need is just to exercise the potential we have in a positive way before the world.
The room for making more efficient efforts is there, the need is to understand and implement them effectively. The efforts on the individual as well as on the governmental level should be made the “Soft Image” of Pakistan sparkle through the lens of the culture. Culture demands to be spread across the borders to be alive elsewhere the culture dies. There is always a need to the cultural revival. What we have left behind should bring back as a common practice of our everyday lives. Once we own our culture proudly, we will be able to make it familiar to the public worldwide. In the world of chaos, cultural diplomacy practices are considered able to bring peace and stability. writer is student in Fatima Jinnah Women University (Department of Defense and Diplomatic Studies)