ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has declared the ancestral home of legendary Indian actor Yusuf Khan, commonly known as Dilip Kumar, which is located in Peshawar, as national heritage and directed the ministry of information, broadcasting and national heritage to acquire the house.
The prime minister has already approved a summary in this regard and sent it to information ministry, which has forwarded it to director general Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) for implementation of the orders.
Well-placed sources at the PM House informed this scribe that chief secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa forwarded a summary to federal government and requested that it should take steps for acquiring the Dilip Kumar’s home and to declare it as national heritage. They said that the project would play an important role to bring people of Pakistan and India closer.
The PM approved the summary and sent it to information ministry on Thursday and ministry marked to DG PNCA on Friday and instructed him to start work on it. Sources said that the PM was eager to promote the cultural relationship between India and Pakistan and also met with the representatives of Indian film industry in his last visit to India.
After acquiring Dilip Kumar’s home the government is planning to convert it into a museum. The sources said that the PM had ordered the authorities concerned to complete the task as soon as possible. The government is planning to invite Dilip Kumar and other members of his family after converting the house into a museum.
Talking to The Nation, Acting Director General PNCA Mashood Mirza confirmed that the council has received the summary on Friday from information ministry with the instruction to implement it as soon as possible. He said that according to the orders of the PM, the PNCA would take KP government on board to acquire the ancestral home of the great actor situated in Peshawar. The DG PNCA said that a special meeting would be held on Monday to review all aspects to develop the great actor’s home. He said that Dilip Kumar’s five marla home was located in Pesawar’s famous area Qisa Khawani Bazaar and it was in a shabby condition. He said that at present somebody had been illegally occupying the house, who claimed to be relative of Dilip Kumar, but is not his relative.
Mashood said that previous governments did not even try to repair the house. He said that house could play an important role to elaborate role played by people from this side of border in developing Indian film industry. He said as per the directions of the PM, the PNCA would reconstruct the house keeping in view of stature of Dilip Kumar who has fans all around the world.