Role of museums in Depicting history of cultural heritage of Pakistan

Abstract

Ancient history of Pakistan is spanned over millions of years. Evidence of human activity in the past can be traced from Stone Age to famous Indus valley civilization and then there is a series of foreign invasions, one can find all hues in the history and archaeology of Pakistan. But here is the dilemma of majority of Pakistanis of whether to start our history from first Muslim invasion or not. Islam is the state religion of Pakistan and more than 95% population is Muslim. People are hesitant to their own history. They don't take pride as the successor of Indus Valley Civilization. They prefer to start their history from 712 AD, when a Muslim invader Muhammad Bin Qasim captured this area. But now it's time to accept all sons of soil. And in this regard soft power of museums can be of great help. According to research soft power is more effective where opinion of public is gradually changed through attraction and persuasion. A museum is just a warehouse if it can't preserve and present the history in a proper manner and can't educate the public. Now museums of Pakistan are realizing that they should exercise this soft power to achieve the influence through different activities rather than only being a landmark.