Free passes sold at drama festival

The tentacles of corruption have entangled the society to an extent that not only the top officials of public sector organisations are off and on gulped by them, but the educated youth of public sector educational institutions are also not an exception.
The latest example was witnessed during the 16th stage play of the ‘National Drama Festival 2011’ ‘Ishq’, produced by Islamabad’s ‘Friends Production’, at the auditorium of Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) the other night.
The PNCA administration handed over 100 free entry passes to every drama production team director and producer to promote theatre art among the youth, but ‘Friends Production’ team officials distributed those free cards to their kith and kin, studying in different educational institutions of twin cities who distributed those free passes among the various universities students at Rs 500 each for two persons.
Though, the drama was based on the philosophy of Divine Love to Almighty Allah, yet the production team has been found involved allegedly in corrupt practices as this scribe observed a long queue of university students of Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU), Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU), NUST, SZABIST, and NUML standing outside the gates of PNCA in a freezing cold holding entry passes, which were originally free.
The alleged corruption of ‘Friends Production’ team not only surprised many students when they came to know that these entry passes were free of cost, while the PNCA administration was also astonished.
“Though, we are late because of weekend traffic mess, it is our right to go inside and watch the play as we have spent our money. It is freezing cold here, and we are with our family members,” said Sana, a student of FJWU who bought four passes for her family, adding that she purchased these passes from her university. Maria, another student, said it was not mentioned on the passes that they were free.
Lamenting over the sinister motive, she said these sort of corrupt intentions were enough to distort one’s image.
The PNCA at first refused to allow entry to the late comers, but later allowed them, before the situation got worse. The management not only resolved the matter amicably by not only accommodating all of them, but also gave them six free entry passes for the next stage plays.
When contacted, Hassan Abbas Raza, the chief coordinator of the drama festival, refuted the selling of free passes. “These are just rumours,” he claimed.
However, PNCA Director Media Waqar Hanif resolved the matter amicably and invited all students to come into his office and write an application mentioning their names and educational institutions to take up the issue for a sterna action.
“It was a sad incident and if it was not controlled peacefully, the angry students might have created chaos inside the PNCA premises,” Hanif said.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Hanif said the PNCA had provided 100 free entry passes to all production teams.
“The director and producer of stage play ‘Ishq’ obtained 100 more passes for this play and they handed them over to unknown persons who distributed these free passes to different universities of twin cities at the rate of Rs 500,” he said.
Waqar promised legal action against the ‘Friends Production Islamabad’ if they found guilty, adding that the PNCA would ban their entry.
When contacted Farhan Mughal, the writer of the play ‘Ishq’ whose brother Usman is one of the accused persons, said it was impossible and there was no truth in the reported accusations.
“There is no proof of the allegation that is being fabricated against the production team,” Mughal maintained.
This scribe also learnt that the ‘Friends Production’ was formerly a part of Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) Dramatic Club, but they were removed because of the mischievous attitude. Later, they formed their own theatre group, while the official QAU Dramatic Club was still working at the varsity.
Directed by Saadia Shahid, the stage play ‘Ishq’ was based on the philosophy of ‘Ishq-e-Haqeeqi’ and ‘Ishq-e-Majazi’, but it ultimately gave the message of ‘lust for money’.