Lahore – Artists from various sections strongly condemned Rehman Malik’s statement in a discussion at Press Club on Friday. They said that the notification that no artist or journalist can travel abroad without the government’s No Objection Certificate (NOC) was ridiculous and against human rights and democracy.
“The journalists should be with us on this,” said Madeeha Gauhar from Ajoka Theatre. She was backed by Usman Peerzada, Samina Peerzada, Faizan Peerzada, Samina Ahmed, Ali Noor, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Salman Shahid and many other artists who stood in solidarity against this notification.
Gauhar said, “This takes me back to Zia’s era when liberal and progressive people like us used to get fired from jobs and banned from traveling to spread the message of liberalism. This notification by the Interior Minister is detrimental to human rights and arbitrary to the concept of democracy.”
Asghar Nadeem Syed said the government had no business to stop artists from performing abroad unless the particular artist was involved some illegal act. “Art is a global language which makes the artist an ambassador of this language,” he said.
Meanwhile, representing the community of musicians, Ali Noor said that the musicians’ main source of income was performing at concerts. “We suffer from severe financial constraints with no support from the Pakistani government and now this notification is a last blow. We are completely dependant upon this and cannot tolerate this notification in any case,” he said.
Usman Peerzada said that it was politicians who should be made to travel under an NOC because they were the ones who worsened the image of Pakistan. “Artists are the ones who uplift the image of the country, why are they being stopped”, he questioned. “What about cricketers?” he further asked, “they have embarrassed us at various occasions by match fixing but they are never given such notifications.”
Meanwhile Gauhar reiterated that it was ironic that the PPP would take on this notification when after Zia’s regime, Benazair Bhutto had herself removed such a ban on artists. “This is the unkindest cut of all coming from the PPP; and as for us, we are planning to take this to the Supreme Court. We have had enough of this hypocrisy”, she conclude
HRCP joins condemnation: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has expressed aversion and alarm at the recent restrictions by government for Pakistani artists and journalists traveling to India, coming into effect from March 15, and called the move against basic human rights and a bid to put the clock back.
HRCP, in a press release issued on Friday, said that according to an official statement, the government made the decision to regulate visits abroad of public servants, artists and journalists ‘in the interest of Pakistan’s security and to safeguard country’s prestige’. The government has also said that the rule will apply to students going abroad on scholarship.
“Ridiculous decisions such as this are precisely why the security and prestige of the country are where they are. Not only is the decision bound to be counterproductive in a region where the people have suffered for long because of the iron curtain that regional borders have become, but the mandatory requirement to obtain No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Interior Ministry before being allowed to travel abroad also violates basic human rights, particularly provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”, maintains HRCP
The HRCP also said that while a good many other measures might serve to restore country’s prestige, the curbs on international travel were bound to further dent it. HRCP urges the government to reconsider the move instead of misinterpreting any single incident to put the clock back.
