Monuments to What?

OCTOBER 2002 - Islamabad is not only the capital of Pakistan – although this is often in dispute, the city being reputed to be out of Pakistan, but also the capital of the most well-meaning but largely harebrained ideas. The amount of drivel that has been shoved down the nation’s gullet ever since FM Ayub Khan (no FM he) looked at some hills and proclaimed, ‘I have a dream,’ is legendary. From Basic Democracy to Real Democracy is a long journey over a very bumpy cart track and it isn’t even over yet. And that’s just one of the loony concepts that’s wafted out of this poppy-growing somnolent city. The latest addition of course is the foundation stone laying ceremony late last month, when the President surrounded by grinning admirers announced plans to build a national monument at Shakarparian. Although it is a relief to read that it is dedicated to the people of Pakistan, the logic of cobbling together this monument, escapes most of us.

The President’s resolve to promote the arts of this country is indeed a welcome and long-awaited announcement because these, the true representation of our identity, have long remained victims of indifference and prejudice. There has never been any shortage of pontification though. Leader after leader has stood up and made solemn pledges to genuinely promote and develop our artists – singers, dancers, musicians, painters, writers, yet all of them have been stifled and most have led miserable and deprived lives, dying in poverty-ridden circumstances. While the usual hollow and false ‘deeply grieved’ messages have come pouring forth from all those who were in transitory power in Islamabad, little has ever been done to let Pakistan’s culture blossom and spread. If mindless and insincere leaders were not enough, sullen-souled bureaucrats and mean, little-minded 'babus' have placed mountains of restrictions on artists and those promoting them so that arranging an ordinary performance – be it a musical event, a drama or a dance recital (not many of those about), becomes a nightmare and an exercise in supreme frustration. It is only mad people in Pakistan who challenge the gods and plan an event remotely cultural because the entire government machinery led by its holier-than-thou pundits ensure that every possible objection that can be dug up, is dug up and flung like dung cakes at those who are pleading before them. This attitude has deprived the people of numerous opportunities to hear or see some of the country’s great performers. Most of them are dead, replaced by artists who do not have the caliber, commitment or indeed the training to be truly accomplished performers. Not that if they were, there would be wide-open opportunities for them to demonstrate their craft.

It is a fashion here to build monuments of sorts – there is an ugly one coming up at Walton which needs to be stopped before it too rises like the Minar-e-Pakistan at Lahore and becomes a permanent blot on the landscape – and that too right in the shadow of the magnificent Lahore Fort and the great Badshahi Mosque – ye gods is there no justice? No, the Minar is ugly notwithstanding the hallowed ground where it rises like a large radish into the gray, pollution-laden skies of the city. A Sikh from Amritsar said the right thing when asked to comment on the Minar, maintaining that it might have been less of an eyesore were it laid out along the park. But Walton is another blot in the making and the sooner executive bulldozing is ordered, the better. Since we are so used to crumbs, many will welcome the new dedicated-to-the-people monument in Islamabad. It is infinitely better than that ridiculous fiberglass monstrosity, the Chaghi disaster that is now visible in cities. Why no one has the courage to raze it is not surprising. When was it ever the case where those having the power used it to redress wrongs? The sight of military arsenal blotting our parks, business centers and recreational areas, is very hard to appreciate. The sight of a dead tank that cannot move or an antique aircraft that has posters and graffiti smeared over it is hardly great art. We cannot put up statues because there is some injunction or the other about it, but why couldn’t pieces of abstract art be allowed instead of the machinery of destruction that now adorns our national life? I suppose we will have to wait till there is an eminent sculptor born in the armed forces. I wouldn’t hold my breath. Perhaps, the President could issue another ordinance while the going is good, ordering a replacement of all those submarines and rockets that look like the 'kulfi' available on rickety carts, with genuine outpourings of passion and feelings created by Pakistani artists. Perhaps Shahid Sajjad is just by himself, but if encouraged, who can deny there will be others too? But how can a military man undo a tank? Here too, a long and most likely, fruitless wait is the outcome.

Let the monument come up at Islamabad – it will in any case, but instead of making more of these which really serve no purpose, why cannot the President order a cleaning of the stables that pass for our arts councils? These need a fresh lease of life and a fresh mandate. They need to be fumigated and all the dead wood and assorted cockroaches that are housed there, cleared. The amount of bureaucracy and the hold of 'babus' armed with minds like cesspools and laws that were enacted in the time of Noah, is frightening. Ask anyone who has had the misfortune to deal with them. Not only do these little clerks gleefully misinterpret the rules to line pockets (the Lahore Arts Council Director decamped with millions and is not going to be found), but create hurdles for artists that cannot be overcome. Instead of a Performing Arts Academy that’s been also announced, why not allow the existing arts councils to perform by changing the guard there? Freeing them from the clutches of the gargoyles who have held on to them will not mean the arrival of lechery, indecency or nudity, but it will open the skies for the arts to have a little more breathing space. The torch must be passed on to private and responsible entrepreneurs – there is always a way to ensure checks and balances, but the State has to let go of its monopoly of the performing arts. Its embrace has only suffocated this most precious manifestation of our identity. There is so much red tape and official interference at every step in planning or organizing events that it defies comprehension. Almost the entire civil hierarchy of clerks and their officers and their officers is involved in permission taking and paperwork. The police are never far away and not only allow lawlessness and disorder but cause black marketing, misbehaviour and every ill to freely flourish. Others too now are part of the scam – nazim class, even the army is fully involved and the Corps Commander’s office acts like a clearance office for every small event. What have they got to do with it? Under the guise of law, order and security every factotum blocks initiative and creates hurdles. This has to stop if arts are to flourish, otherwise all we will have will be monuments, committees and no artists.

While the President presides over our topsy-turvy destiny this week, he would do us a world of good to appoint a small, fast-moving and powerful committee to review our dismal arts scene and the disgraceful state of neglect of our cultural heritage. The Lahore Fort is in serious structural trouble and the Lahore Museum is not even insured!! That’s just two items – there is a lot more. He should ban the Ministry of Tourism & Culture since it has nothing to do with those tourism or culture and give our performing arts the respect and support they have long deserved. It has more merit than the dismal devolution plan he is so proud of.