ISLAMABAD: The folk festival of Pakistan ‘Lok Mela’, jointly organized by Lok Virsa and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is now becoming the talk of the town as more and more people are pouring in at Shakarparian to witness the event with all of its festivities.
Enthusiasts, who seem to have been exhausted from the scorching hot summer days and of course load shedding, are thronging the festival grounds to get a respite and enjoy the colourful ambience, folk dances, rural music and hoards of art & craft stalls.

All the provinces and regions—Punjab, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Gilgt Baltistan and Azad Kashmir - have set up their pavilions presenting indigenous folk music, songs, dances and traditional cuisine peculiar to their respective areas at the aesthetically designed colourful pavilions.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) pavilion has its own charm. The replica of ‘Bab-e-Khyber’ as entrance to the pavilion stands tall with its grandeur.

The pavilion boasts of twenty diverse master craftsmen and craftswomen from different parts of the province.

Quite surprisingly, many artisans’ stalls have been allocated to female artisans, which give an atmosphere of fresh breeze of air. Women artisans include Tanzila from Dera Ismail Khan (Wood Lacquer work), Sahira Parveen and Tasleem from Hazara (Phulkari), Shazadi Bibi, Zainab, Karam Swai, Gulzar Bukhari from Dera Ismail Khan (Embroidery).

Amongst them, the most prominent one is Farhat Bibi from Dera Ismail Khan. She is the master artisan of wood lacquer work.

The word lack, lac, leca or laksha in different languages is significantly derived from the Persian word ‘lac’ or Hindi word ‘lakh’ meaning a hundred thousand.

It indicates the multitudes of insects required to produce Lac. Locally it is called ‘jundri’ or ‘Jundi ka Kaam’, which forms an intrinsic part of three provinces of Pakistan, involves the process of applying layers of Lac in different colours on wood, while the material is rotated on a simple wooden lathe machine. Patterns are etched with the help of thick iron needle on the surface, exposing each colour according to the requirements of traditional patterns.

Male artisans include Aurangzeb and Mohammad Ilyas from Haripur (Stone carving), Fahim Awan and Waseem from Dera Ismail Khan, (Wood Lacquer work), Nawab Gul from Mardan (Basketry), Kashif from Charsadda (Charsadda chappal), Shahzaman Khan from Swat (Weaving), Dost Mohammad from Swat (Wood carving), Khawaja Safar Ali from Peshawar (Metal work), Shah Behram from Dera Ismail Khan (Taghar weaving) and Riaz Ahmed from Peshawar (Wax printing).Daily times.