GIVEN the all-time high tension between Pakistan and India, it is surprising how New Delhi had come round to agreeing to attend the 11th Saarc summit at Kathmandu. After all, India has been known to refuse to attend previous Saarc summits on one pretext or the other.

There should have been 17 annual summits, in all, since the formation of the South Asian regional association in 1985, but this is only the 11th one. New Delhi had, for instance, refused to attend the 11th summit, originally scheduled for November 1999, when tension between the two countries was even nowhere near what it is today. The excuse was the military coup in Islamabad a month earlier.

But then again India has been known to attend a Saarc summit in times of difficult Pakistan-India relations. The 10th Saarc summit was held in Colombo in July 1998, just hardly two months after India, followed by Pakistan in a tit-for-tat response, carried out their nuclear tests, which focused international concern for the first time on the possible outbreak of the first nuclear war in the subcontinent.

Whatever the reason for India not sabotaging the Kathmandu summit, the very fact that a Saarc summit is being held at all after two-and-a-half years is being seen by some as an “achievement of sorts”, specially with the handshaking gesture by President Musharraf. If the summit has achieved anything, it is only to ease the current tension somewhat between Pakistan and India, both of whose leaders had gone to Kathmandu with daggers drawn at their border.

It is very doubtful if Saarc can inch towards any real and meaningful cooperation at all when the very basics of regional cooperation in communication like air, rail and road travel cannot survive the differences between the two major members 17 years after Saarc has come into existence. New Delhi’s recent decision to suspend air, rail and road links runs counter to the spirit behind the formation of Saarc or any other regional grouping for that matter.

If member-nations cannot even maintain normal communication links, it is least expected of them to be able to cooperate on higher issues like combating terrorism or free trade. It is little wonder that the final document of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), which leaders at the last Saarc summit in Colombo in 1998 had agreed to adopt by the end of 2001, has not materialized as yet.

Saarc is nowhere closer to the regional cooperation envisaged 17 years ago when it was formed with the modest goal of enhancing cooperation in the social sector, particularly to combat region-wide poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy and child and maternal mortality rates, all of which are among the highest in the world. In fact, the Convention on Preventing and Combating Crime against Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution, signed in Kathmandu this time, would probably face the same fate as all other conventions and declarations signed at Saarc summits. None of them have been carried through over the years.

Whereas countries of other notable regional groupings like Asean and G-8 hold high-profile summits to express solidarity with each other, committing themselves to greater cohesion, unity and thus cooperation, the only purpose which Saarc summits have served so far is to prevent the outbreak of an allout war in the region. This at least has been the case with the 10th and 11th summits.

A united and cohesive Saarc could have become a formidable entity internationally with the political and economic power to go with it. After all, the seven-member regional grouping is home to a fifth of humanity and has an economic potential that can surpass China.

But India has so far not been willing to use the vehicle of Saarc to its maximum advantage and thus to the mutual benefit of all member-states. So long as this mentality reigns in New Delhi, Saarc’s usefulness cannot go beyond being a mere instrument to help cool tension in the region and prevent hostilities from deteriorating into a full-fledged war.

THE talent in the field of art and culture in the city is being drained for want of the required patronage and guidance. While on the one hand genuine artistes have no opportunity to display their talent, on the other stage-shows and dramas in the local cinema houses are thriving at the cost of morality owing to the negligence of the authorities concerned.

The organizers of the so-called ‘musical nights’ and ‘stage-dramas’ featuring dancers wearing short dresses cannot be allowed to take shelter behind the argument that theatre was flourishing in the city.

There are about half a dozen cinema houses whose owners organize dramas and musical shows full of vulgarity and obscenity themselves or on contract. But no action is taken against them.

Whether under the circumstances the theatre is really making progress is difficult to say. Dancers perform to lure the audiences by their seductive looks and peppery prances. They are least bothered about the script or guideline of the director.

While performing on stage, they seem to go berserk, making a mockery of the art of drama.

Running on commercial lines there is not a single theatre group which is staging what may be considered within the framework of this art form.

Things have further worsened with the introduction of ‘melody nights’. One is struck with wonder on witnessing these ‘nights’ turning into mujras and bargaining points as the function progresses. But no-one is there to check this vulgarity in the name of culture.

Before the inception of the local government system, the defunct district magistrates were responsible for permitting such type of shows by ordering area magistrates to check the performances of male and female artistes. The performers were not allowed to dance on stage or use vulgar language.

The Excise and Taxation Department was responsible for ensuring that extra charges were not levied and the rules and regulations were not violated.

Under the devolution plan, no-one is giving any heed to these important prerequisites for granting permission for holding stage shows, musical nights, and dramas in cinema houses and theatres.

Everyone appears to be reluctant to take action on his own against vulgarity or other violations.

A senior stage actor of the city told Dawn that artistes should learn from the great artistes of the past, who, without indulging in hollow jeer and jest, used to perform with dexterity and skill. “What we need is a well-composed performance not vulgarity. Otherwise, the fate of the theatres will be that of cinemas”, he said.

The organizers of these stage shows allegedly grease the palms of high-ups of the local administration, officials of the Excise and Taxation Department and police.

Dance shows by girls belonging to the infamous bazaars of Multan and Lahore are being staged under the nose of the government agencies in local cinemas.

Insiders said that some cinema houses had become ‘booking points’ of gay-girls under the cover of musical shows and dramas.

This correspondent visited a local cinema house where a musical drama was being staged. The hall which had the capacity to accommodate 700 people was full. But the excise officials and cinema management registered in the official papers the presence of only 230 people, including 45 pass-holders, causing a loss to the government in the shape of entertainment fee and other duties.

What a pity that the city which had one of the biggest halls for stage shows and dramas in the subcontinent, containing special floors for dance performances by horses and elephants, has become dry of entertainment and cultural activities.

This hall was built by Moti Lal, a great patron of culture, in the premises of the then Lyallpur Cotton Mills where drama, musical shows, poetry competitions and other cultural activities were regular events in which renowned people used to participate. That activity was popular in the entire subcontinent.

Apart from this, the annual poetical concerts used to be conducted in this hall and this practice continued till 1965, before the Indo-Pakistan war.

Unfortunately, owing to the apathetic and indifferent attitude of the authorities this historic hall was not preserved and the money-grabbers removed it when the LCM was demolished in 1997.

At present, there is only one hall under the control of the Faisalabad Arts Council named after the great legend, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, which is going waste as it was neither completed in time nor used for the promotion of culture and art in the true sense.

The recently established district government reportedly decided to use this hall for its sessions which would further crush the idea of boosting cultural and entertainment activities in the city under the umbrella of government agencies.

This hall includes an auditorium of 450 seats, a control room, a VIP room, a committee room, a green room, a make-up room, an office block, an art gallery and classrooms.

There are 25 cinemas in the district out of which 21 are in Faisalabad city, three in Jaranwala and one in Tandlianwala tehsils. Only nine cinemas of A category in the city have the right to charge Rs40 for lower stall and Rs50 for the upper stall. But the managements of almost all the city theatres are charging extra money from the cine-goers. According to information, the Excise and Taxation Department collected Rs190,959 during the fiscal 2000-2001 as tax at the rate of 20 per cent on the admission rate for stage dramas. During first quarter (July to Sept 2001), Rs174,280 were collected from dramas.

Similarly, Rs23,486,881 were collected by the local ETOs as entertainment duty from cinema houses during 1999-2000 and Rs24,445,250 during 2000-2001.

Sources in the Excise and Taxation Department claimed that hundreds of thousands of rupees were being collected as nazrana (bribe) from the owners and managements of cinema houses by the ETOs and other officials concerned.

The cinema owners were also allegedly involved in electricity pilferage and sale of substandard eatables with the connivance of the officials.

The new trend of organizing ‘musical nights’ and indecent dances in the name of stage dramas has made the chances of healthy entertainment in the city dim.

Faisalabad has produced many artistes of note, including Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Hina Shaheen, Reena Siddiqui, Resham, Nabeel, Naseem Vicki, Ajab Gull, Sardar Kamal, Tariq Javaid and dozens of others who are performing on the stage of various cities. All of them have shifted to other cities to establish themselves.

A local drama producer-director, Muhammad Sarfraz Naz, said that maximum variety programmes, musical shows, stage dramas, fashion shows and other events of entertainment should be held in the city without spoiling our youth.

The Punjab Arts Council should constitute academies in all the main cities of the province for training of artistes under a well-planned programme so that the male and female actors could be instructed in true and genuine acting for promotion of culture.

He was of the view that a special committee comprising senior artistes and government functionaries should be constituted for reviewing the performance of actors on stage and in cultural activities to check the trend of vulgar language and dances in theatre.

He claimed that about 35 per cent of the income from dramas and stage shows was being pocketed by local government functionaries who had shut their eyes to all sorts of violations.