Saturday, May 12, 2012
Kabul (BNA) The meeting of ministers of culture of Asia Pacific Region ended yesterday in Dhaka the capital city of Bangladesh with the release of a resolution.
The meeting was held in regard with cultural variety.
According to BNA report from Dhaka, with cooperation of UNESCO, this meeting was held by the government of Bangladesh on Wednesday, May 9th with the speech of Mrs. Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh and the speeches of Ms. Arian Bakova the general director of UNESCO.
On behalf of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, heading a delegation minister of information and culture Dr. Sayed Makhdoom Raheen was attended in this meeting.
In connection with cultural variety, in his speech Dr. Raheen said that the variety of culture as a strengthening point among nations of the region can be a ground for cohesion of the nations and respecting the cultural worthies of each other.
Lit is better than living in a society that all are the same. He added that it is necessary to all join hands and in coordination with each other make effort for preservation of cultural riches.
Dr. Raheen added our several years’ history bestowed to our national culture special variety. The ancestors of this nation created a national joint culture from civilization and great culture.
In every period of history, different tribes are lived and created special cultural variety.
This variety of culture strengthened our national unity and enriched our national culture.
Dr. Reheen asserted that the constitution of Afghanistan respects that variety of culture and presence of different tribes in Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the guardian of this respectfulness.
Despite two official languages, the national media of Afghanistan are published in all national main languages.
Dr. Reheen continued that this pluralism strengthened the cohesion of our society and paved the way for the growth of democracy in the country.
According to another report, Dr. Raheen along with his accompanying delegation and the ambassador and employees of the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Bangladesh visited museum and national archive of Bangladesh and respect to the comp of Father of Nation of Bangladesh and leader of the country, late Shaikh Mujiburrahman.
Address by Dr. S.M. Raheen, On The Occasion Of Cultural Diversity:
Ministerial forum of Asia Pacific Region
The idea of cultural diversity has a very extensive capacity and is being experienced by people and societies all over the world.
Generally this idea includes people of diverse races, different religions, different Ethnics and Nations. We can find it in different communities, from small villages to big cities and that too all through the world. Diversity is an element of the society and has now become an important part of our live in different aspect. One of the benefits of living in a diverse society is learning about other cultures.
With the aim of living as a community, we all have to understand each other.
If you do not understand another's values, lifestyles, or beliefs, it is much easier to belittle them. And so the seeds of prejudice and intolerance are sown.
Dr.S.M.Raheen also had a look on the history and cultural diversity of Afghanistan:
The country that we today know by the name of Afghanistan is one of the most ancient countries in the world.
As an important trading center of the historical silk route, Afghanistan absorbed and combined many cultures and made it a part of its life style.
We could remember in the history of this country about 3000 years ago the Balkh city and the naissance of the Zoroaster, who was the messenger of peace, justice and kindness for the humanity and creator of the Zoroastrian civilization, that’s one of the most ancient civilizations in the world. Its significant geo-strategic and geopolitical location also played a major role in forming its own cultural variation from great cultures and civilizations as ancient Persia, Greece, Mesopotamia, India and China.
Throughout the ancient, medieval and a part of the modern history the people of Afghanistan or ancient Arianna and medieval Khorassan played a significant role in spreading various religions, while also furthering trade; hence it is not without reason that several dynasties from here established their political and cultural power in the region.
Islam had its important impact on Afghanistan culture; Islamic threads were left in the art, music architecture and poetry of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan all through the history has experienced great cultures such as Zoroastrian, Buddhist arts and culture that later merged with Greek culture, existence of Khorassani and Indian civilization and also the Gandhara art and cultures.
With the emergence of Islamic civilization this country was enriched with arts, culture and architecture of the periods of Ghaznavid, Ghorid and specially timorid.
In consequence the present Afghanistan is a Multilanguage, multicultural and multiethnic country, which is a land of the homogenization of different cultures many inhabitants are bilingual or trilingual,
The life style, the music and traditions are diverse concerning the ethnic groups and this diversity make it difficult to judge the common culture of Afghanistan.
The government of Afghanistan tries to develop the awareness of the society regarding to the value and importance of Cultural diversity, by holding the seminars to this issue and also diverse publication to introduce every ethnic group’s culture and tradition to each other.
We can find these kinds of efforts in every programs of the government, in National Antym, work places, every where the presence of different ethnics group and their own and common cultures are evident.
The ministry of information and culture of Afghanistan in order to its cultural policy, respects the cultural diversity in all its publication and broadcasting, the national TV and all the governmental magazines and newspapers have diverse programs and publications in all spoken languages of the country for the improvement of different ethnic groups cultures.
We can find the respect of cultural diversity in the afghan constitution and all other laws and regulations.
At the end he added:
In consideration the benefits of our cultural diversity we do our best to use the opportunity of this diversity to go towards a peaceful Afghanistan.
I am sure that we can benefit from the cultural diversity to bring nations together, and have a more interesting world in the future.
