LAHORE: The Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA) is organising the 1st National Heritage and Tourism Workshop at Barood Khana inside Lahore Fort from November 22nd to 24th whereas the main theme of the workshop would revolve around discussing the re-adaptive use of conserved heritage site along with business models for sustainable tourism, Pakistan Today learnt on Wednesday.
It was further learnt that the three day workshop would have participants will from all provinces of Pakistan including Archaeologist Kalim Ullah Lashari, Lok Virsa ex-executive director Dr Fauzia Saeed, Rawalpindi Army Museum Director Brig Dr Adnan Salim, Army Heritage Foundation Director General Brig Zaman Nasarullah Khan Niazi, Senior Architect Yasmin Lari, State Bank Museum Director Dr Asma Ibrahim, Khyber Pakhtukhwa (KP) Museums Director Archaeology Dr Abdul Samad, Punjab Arts Council (PAC) Director Mian Attique Ahmad, Senior Architect Kamil Khan Mumtaz, Aga Khan Culture Services Pakistan (AKCSP) CEO Salman Beg, International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) President Dr Fauziah Qureshi, Institute of Art and Culture (IAC) Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Sajida Vandal, WCLA Chairman and socialite Yousaf Salahuddin, Senior Architect and WCLA Heritage Conservation Board member Sajjad Kausar, Jamshoro University of Art and Culture VC Dr Jaevria Manzoor Sheikh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Archaeology Department Director Irshad Ahmad Pirzada, Archaeology Department Secretary Midhat Shahzad, creative head of different media houses Shahzad Nawaz, Gilgit Baltistan (GB) Cultural Expert Aziz Alidad, Balochistan Archaeology Secretary Zafar Buledi, Punjab Curator Archaeology Dr Rustam Khan and Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Associate Professor Dr Nadhra Shahbaz.
Further, WCLA will also be organising guided tours of the Walled City of Lahore for the participants whereas the day long sessions would revolve around academic and interactive discussions on topics, a few of which are ‘Changing perspectives in heritage researches: case study of KP’, ‘Evolution of Walled cities in Lahore from past to present’, ‘Sustainable Development and Regional History Museums – a case study of Layalpur and Montgomery Museum’, ‘Harnessing Heritage for Community and Socioeconomic Development’, ‘Capitalising Built Heritage for Tourism’ and ‘Conservation of Tomb of Sultan Ibrahim at Makli World Heritage Site’.
WCLA Deputy Director Media and Marketing Tania Qureshi said, “The WCLA planned to gather government and semi-government bodies in Pakistan on one platform where everybody could share their experiences with each other. This is a first of its kind workshop where participants from all provinces have been invited to display their work and case studies. The workshop will focus on topics related to heritage conservation, preservation, tourism and culture”.
WCLA Director General (DG) Kamran Lashari said, “The purpose of holding this three day workshop is to gain knowledge by sharing experiences in the fields of heritage, tourism and culture. We will also be focusing on the re-adaptive use of conserved heritage sites and a business model for sustainable tourism as we want to explore the opportunities of highlighting and prioritising heritage and tourism in Pakistan so that the heritage we have is marketed worldwide”.
“We would be discussing the lessons learnt from our projects and how sustainable tourism can be made a part of heritage sites. I think each participant will learn a lot from the experiences of the esteemed speakers,” he concluded.
