The murals of heroes painted on the walls of Karachi Press Club were vandalized by operatives of some politico-religious groups on Thursday. However, the artists restored them on Sunday.
Reacting to the gross vandalistic act, the rights activists demanded early arrest of the miscreants affiliated with religious groups responsible for defacing the murals of activists and journalists on the KPC walls.
However, artist Haider Ali, the chief executive officer at Phool Patti vowed to redo it five times if the vandals repeat their defacing acts. It should be mentioned here that the operatives defaced the KPC walls at around 4am.
It is pertinent to note here that the KPC walls were painted with the portraits of Orangi Pilot Project Director Perween Rehman, journalist Zubeida Mustafa, activist Sabeen Mahmud, architect Yasmin Lari and dramatist Fatima Surraya Bajia in order to honour these female activists.
Phool Patti voiced support for the project of ‘I Am Karachi’ campaign and spearheaded its second phase with artists from Vasl Art two months ago.
Ali complained, “Truck art is something that is greatly appreciated the world over, it marks a sign of peace and love,” he shared. “I get appreciation all the time when I paint at the global level, either my work gets a thumbs up or a flying kiss but look at our own countrymen: they say ‘tasveer banana haram hai [it’s a sin to create an image]’.”
