Karachi: The Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi has teamed up with the Federal Information and Broadcasting Ministry, and Pakistan Television (PTV), to launch for the first time the National Entertainment Awards in Pakistan.
The cash awards having total value of Rs250 million (Dh5.1 million) will be given to 22 eminent persons for showing excellence in the fields of film, theatre and arts.
Speaking at the ceremony to sign the memorandum of understanding, Federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said the launching of the awards would promote the fields of culture and fine arts in the country.
He said the awards were also a step towards furthering the cause of national cohesion and integrity.
Hussain added that steps were required to be taken urgently to revive the institutions of feature films, television dramas and the music industry in the country. He said that a film division had been established at the PTV for producing films on the historical subjects.
The Information Minister was of the view that the country’s advancement was not possible without strengthening the fields of culture, films and literature.
He said that such efforts would provide employment opportunities to artistes and performers while quality entertainment would be available to the masses. “Such efforts will also enable us to revive our culture and history,” Hussain added.
Arts Council Karachi President Muhammad Ahmed Shah expressed gratitude to the government for recognising the national-level services of the Arts Council.
He said the upcoming award would serve as the first national-level institution to recognise different regional cultures and languages in Pakistan belonging to its every part
Shah said that an independent jury would finalise the names of the award winners.
He mentioned that the Arts Council Karachi had also launched the Global Urdu Conference as an annual event, which had been continuing for the past 14 years.
He said the next session of the Urdu Conference would be especially held in Islamabad in March 2022 to give representation to all the regional languages for strengthening of the federation of Pakistan. He said that both the government and artist fraternity had the joint objective to strengthen the federation of Pakistan by combining all its units.
