By Fazal Khaliq
MINGORA: Local singers, musicians and dancers have said that they are faced with social and financial problems but the culture department has neglected them.
Living in Banr area of Mingora, hundreds of artists told this scribe that they quit to perform during the three years of militancy in Swat due to fear of death. “During militancy in the valley, we left our profession but we did not know other work so we faced financial issues. Some of our families migrated to Mardan and Peshawar while others went to Karachi,” said Umar Rahman, a local artist.
He added that it was the harshest period of their life because they had to do work as labourers.
Established by the rulers of Swat state, Banr is famous for music and dance.
The former Swat state provided protection and security to the artists living there.
“My father often talks about the past and the respect the musicians and artists enjoyed at that time. People would give them respect and the state would protect them,” said Shehla Mushtaq, a young singer and dancer in Banr.
Singers, musicians and dancers say they face financial, social problems
She said that people looked down upon them. “We perform at music concerts and earn money but not that much as it would be in the past,”
she said, adding that although she loved to sing and become a good singer yet she preferred to leave the profession owing to attitude of people.
Recently, the provincial culture department decided to award monthly stipend of Rs30,000 to deserving artists and writers.
However, the artists of Banr said that they were deprived of the stipend.
“No artist from Barn was selected for the stipend. It is questionable. The strange thing is that famous and rich artists were awarded stipend while the poor were rejected,” said Ms Mushtaq.
The artists in Banr said that after 1969, when Swat sate was merged into Pakistan, they were constantly neglected by the government.
“We are troubled by local people and police often but we have never been helped,” she said.
The Music Freedom Day is celebrated in the world on March 3 but these militancy-affected singers, musicians and dancers even do not know about it. Culture Secretary Azam Khan, when contacted, said that no government representative was involved in the selection of 500 beneficiaries of the stipend scheme.
There were proper committees, consisting of learned people from the civil society, to check every application, he added.
“The final committee announced the names of 500 selected artists and writers and said that it would be responsible for every flaw in the selection process,” said the official.
