MULTAN, Dec 12: A nation becomes ignorant and savage without a vivid cultural landscape and the phenomenon ultimately leads to bigotry and extremism. This was stated by renowned poet and former National Book Foundation (NBF) chairman Ahmed Fraz while talking to Dawn. He was in the town in connection with an exhibition of sculptures illustrating his poetic work.

Fraz said that unfortunately the Pakistani society had yet to mature enough to appreciate visual and performing arts. “Apathy on this front originates from the fact that Pakistan has been under military rules most of the time since its creation,” he remarked, adding “mediocrity becomes the hallmark of military rules”.

He said the generals had toppled the civilian governments time and again only because they had guns and a force. They started using funds at their whims and consequently the spending on education and promotion of fine arts came as peanuts. “Brush, pen and colours cannot work when the men in uniform are calling shots in all the civilian matters”.

Asked why did he keep working as head of the NBF when Gen Pervez Musharraf took over the government in October 1999, Fraz said: “I deserved the post and I worked to the best of my abilities during my stint there to make it a sustainable institution.”

He said it was the right of every citizen that he or she was given the opportunity to work as per his or her abilities. He regretted that serving and retired generals had taken over almost all the civilian departments. “Do they make me a general if I want to become so?” he questioned.

Fraz said it was ironical that one general came into power in the name of Islam and the another ruled the roost in the name of de-islamisation and the so-called enlightened moderation. “But, in fact, they just want to prolong their rules through shallow slogans,” he commented.

He said the dictators were used to do flattering of the ‘foreign masters’ while at home they liked people who became their toadies. An example of this was that foreign minister Khursheed Kasuri had included an interview of Gen Musharraf’s mother in the curriculum of the chain of schools being run by his family. “The overhaul of syllabus has now been proving nothing but self-projection”. He said they were distorting the history and spoiling the young minds which was a crime more heinous than toppling civilian governments and subverting the constitution.

He said he saluted the artists, writers and intellectuals who had been nourishing the aesthetic and cerebral endeavours despite a discouraging environment in the country for such activities. Fraz said personally he was a satisfied man as he earned respect and fame in his life which did not happen in the lives of many writers, poets and artists of higher calibre.