Blackwater
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Lahore, February 26
Leading Pakistani artistes have joined hands against the government's decision to impose curbs on travelling to India, saying they have the right to approach the Supreme Court to oppose the order to obtain a no-objection certificate to visit the neighbouring country.
Samina Ahmed, Madiha Gauhar, Usman Pirzada and other theatre artistes and actors have protested the decision, saying Interior Minister Rehman Malik's announcement that they would require an NOC from the government to travel abroad was a huge disappointment to all those who are "fighting for a liberal and democratic Pakistan".
The move will take Pakistan back to the era of late military ruler Zia-ul-Haq, when such NOCs were the norm, the artists said.
Gauhar, who heads the well-known Ajoka Theatre group and regularly visits India, said: "We find this announcement retrogressive, repressive, arbitrary and a violation of the fundamental rights protected by the Constitution. The government has absolutely no right to restrict the movement of persons who are not even employed by it."
Playwright Asghar Nadeem Syed said artistes, being the representatives of culture and heritage, travelled and performed abroad as part of a global cultural panorama.
He said the restriction imposed by the government would be understandable if it was applied only in some individual cases but its "general application to the entire fraternity was beyond any rationale". — PTI
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110227/world.htm#5
Leading Pakistani artistes have joined hands against the government's decision to impose curbs on travelling to India, saying they have the right to approach the Supreme Court to oppose the order to obtain a no-objection certificate to visit the neighbouring country.
Samina Ahmed, Madiha Gauhar, Usman Pirzada and other theatre artistes and actors have protested the decision, saying Interior Minister Rehman Malik's announcement that they would require an NOC from the government to travel abroad was a huge disappointment to all those who are "fighting for a liberal and democratic Pakistan".
The move will take Pakistan back to the era of late military ruler Zia-ul-Haq, when such NOCs were the norm, the artists said.
Gauhar, who heads the well-known Ajoka Theatre group and regularly visits India, said: "We find this announcement retrogressive, repressive, arbitrary and a violation of the fundamental rights protected by the Constitution. The government has absolutely no right to restrict the movement of persons who are not even employed by it."
Playwright Asghar Nadeem Syed said artistes, being the representatives of culture and heritage, travelled and performed abroad as part of a global cultural panorama.
He said the restriction imposed by the government would be understandable if it was applied only in some individual cases but its "general application to the entire fraternity was beyond any rationale". — PTI
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110227/world.htm#5
