Heritage as soft power:Buddhist and Hindu heritage of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan

Abstract

Pakistan is a rich country with diverse Archaeological and Cultural Heritage. Everywhere, heritage has a role in fixing the real identity of the soft power of a nation, era, region and especially of human society. Without heritage investigation, analysis and understanding it is not possible to project things or places in a proper context to which they are associated and how to utilize as soft power. Pakistan known as an independent Muslim State on the world map is more than a million years old due to its heritage. The diverse heritage of the region gives it a unique identity. The heritage especially Buddhist and Hindu of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province is portrayed in tangible forms like stupas, monasteries and temples. Being a Muslim State, the Buddhist and Hindu heritage are respected and very open for the followers to perform their rituals and ceremonies. Because of the heritage soft powers, the global and local communities have been attracted to visiting this diverse culture of Buddhists and Hindus on one hand and to perform their religious rituals on others. This shows the cultural diversity, harmony and tolerance in the existing human societies of the region due to the soft power of the existing heritage. These two are taken as examples, however, if all sorts of heritage are developed and propagated it would be the best tool as soft power.