SOME days ago, it was reported that the prime minister had been sent a summary recommending that a 74-acre (30-hectare) tract of prime beachfront land in Gadani, Balochistan, should be “disposed of through open auction”. The same document suggested that the historic Flashman’s Hotel in Rawalpindi be leased out. Fates along similar veins were suggested for some other assets.

These properties are owned by the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC), the same body, if you remember, that used to put out those stacks of postcards and greeting cards featuring ‘Beautiful Pakistan’: the Gandhara Buddha, the valley of Swat with apricot-laden trees, the natural rock ‘eye’ formation at Paradise Point along the Karachi coast.

They used to be ubiquitous once, these little PR exercises breathed into life by the PTDC, part of its ongoing mission to promote the country’s image, broadcast its culture and entice tourists both domestic and international. Lurid though many of the depictions were and the advertisement campaigns often pedestrian in their conceptualisation, they were nevertheless an attempt to create ‘Brand Pakistan’.

Who will promote heritage and culture at the national level?

But times have changed and while Swat still has trees laden with apricots, there is also a crossing called ‘Khooni Chowk’ (bloodied intersection). The eye at Paradise Point has succumbed to the crash of the surf, while postcards and greeting cards are mementos of a not-so-distant, yet very much outdated, past. Even the PTDC is no more. The 18th Consti­tutional Amendment sounded its death knell.

Tourism is now a provincial domain. The PTDC is, says Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid who is also the head of the PTDC board, “a private limited company” and the devolution of the ministry of tourism does not affect the ownership of its properties.

That must be true, technically. That still doesn’t change the fact that it makes the central government look rather like a dog in the manger. After all, the spirit of the 18th Amendment would dictate that the PTDC’s properties, which are numerous and include plenty of well-established tourism centres and resorts across the country, be transferred in ownership to the provinces. Brand Pakistan could do with a bit of buffing up right about now.

So how committed is the state to promoting the country in this sense? We have a slew of heritage protection laws but right now, in this sphere of things, the biggest news is that the Punjab government is putting several sites of historical value at risk in its desire to hurry along the Lahore Orange Line commuter train project. The lack of transparency and haste is such that Unesco has been moved to indicate protest and a rational rethink.

And speaking of Unesco and culture, here’s a bit of trivia. In 2005, the Unesco General Conference adopted the body’s Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. Among the intangible cultural and heritage assets it calls on to protect are languages, customs, and the freedom to choose forms of expression.

Consider this: the measures “aimed at protecting and promoting the diversity of cultural expressions within its territory” by each party include providing “(b)[…] opportunities for domestic cultural activities, goods and services among all those available within the national territory for the creation, production, dissemination, distribution and enjoyment of such domestic cultural activities, goods and services, including provisions relating to the language used for such activities, goods and services; (c) aimed at providing domestic independent cultural industries and activities in the informal sector effective access to the means of production, dissemination and distribution of cultural activities, goods and services; measures aimed at providing public financial assistance […].”

The convention has 139 parties; Pakistan is not one of them — even though the stressed nature of many of the country’s cultural and heritage assets is such that it could benefit from provisions of the sort mentioned, and disbursements from the International Fund for Cultural Diversity.

What’s the sticking point? Well, in large part, the fact that the country doesn’t have a plan. The subject has largely been devolved to the provinces. And though it does have the cabinet-level Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Integration reportedly using the cabinet secretariat as its headquarters, when was the last time this ministry was in the news?

Each of the provinces will promote their own heritage, culture and tourism opportunities, expectedly. But who is doing it on the national stage, broadcasting the message in the international arena? Whose job is it to come up with an alternate and cohesive plan every time the cry resounds — as it does often, even on the floor of the National Assembly now and again — that ‘Pakistani culture’ is under assault, being diluted, or misunderstood by the rest of the world in general?

Who is in charge of Brand Pakistan?

On current evidence, it would appear, it is a ship adrift, the loss of which is lamented by many but owned up to by none.

The writer is a member of staff.

hajrahmumtaz@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2015