October 9, 2021

ISLAMABAD – A five-day Gandhara Festival organised by Center for Culture and Development (CCD) at Taxila Museum attracting a diverse audience from educational institutions, researchers, artists, scholars, government departments and the local community. Executive Director CCD Dr. Nadeem Omar Tarar told APP that the festival was focusing to explore the Gandhara Civilisation in Buddhist and Jain history in Pakistan.
He said Gandhara civilisation could be made a global symbol of peace connecting different cultures and people from all over the world. He said CCD was aimed to create a synergy between cultural capital and development interventions to promote Pakistan as a custodian of the Gandhara Civilisation and striving to promote it as a global symbol of peace.
. According to Dr. Tarar, there were 16,000 Buddhists living in Pakistan, although their number is minuscule, there contribution to the socio-economic development of the country was remarkable. The exhibition offering shows like posters and pictures of Buddhism and Jainism and heritage sites in various regions and provinces of Pakistan was one of the most potent ways of presenting and projecting our heritage not only to our local audiences but to our diplomatic communities and international viewership as well.