Pakistani Handicrafts

Dr. Ijlal is a Surgeon of Nephrology at Shands Hospital in Gainesville. A longtime resident of Gainesville, Dr. Ijlal basically belongs to the biggest city of Pakistan i.e. Karachi. His interest and passion for Pakistani handicrafts is quite evident from his wide and exclusive handicrafts collection and vast knowledge about them. He usually does not visit his friends often because of his hectic schedule at Shands but surprisingly he has time to visit those people who share his passion about handicrafts. Lately, I invited him over to my house to share with thoughts in regards to handicrafts of Pakistani origin and he was kind enough to cordially accept my request.

I must admit that he has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by today’s Pakistani handicraft industry. He also knows about the history and origin of the handicrafts. So I started my conversation by asking him about the origin of the Pakistani handicrafts and according to him the history of Pakistani handicrafts goes back to Arayan era some 2000 B.C. According to his study, Pakistani handicrafts have imprints of nearly every dynasty that had ruled the Indian Subcontinent.

When asked what is the #1 challenge faced by the Pakistani handicrafts industry, he replied that failure of the government for not properly introducing these beautiful masterpieces of art to the world. He was also worried about the fact that the rival nations like India and Iran are also doing propaganda against Pakistani handicrafts particularly Carpet Industry by misrepresentation of child labor laws so that the European Union and other big importers can ban Pakistan made carpet from their carpets.

His interview is uploaded in this blog. You can hear his thoughts by clicking the link given below.