October 25, 2008	Saturday	Shawwal 25, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 24: The ongoing battle between the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) and the Sindh government to vacate the Hindu Gymkhana became the focus of a press conference held on Friday on the Napa premises. Originally held to announce the dates of their next production, Janab-i-Wala Marchukay Hain, by Indian playwright Badal Sircar, it was no surprise that the play was pushed to the back-burner with reporters asking questions on the existing situation.

The play, which will run from November 6-10, featuring the alumni and students of Napa, is the fifth production by the academy’s Repertory Theatre Company, which came into being in early 2008.

The press conference was conducted by Rahat Kazmi, the company’s artistic director. When asked what was the current status of the stalemate between the academy and the Sindh government, he said that Napa hadn’t broken any law because everything was documented and had been done with the agreement of the government. “We are paying Rs50,000 per month to the Sindh government as rent and the premises have been leased to us for 30 years.”

When asked if Napa had responded to the notice to vacate the premises by the government, Mr Kazmi said: “We did respond but have not heard anything from their end. The prime minister and the chief minister of Sindh have not met us at our request so far.” When asked how much the government had paid for the auditorium, Mr Kazmi said the Abu Dhabi government had paid an amount of Rs120 million to build the auditorium.

Speaking about the play, Rahat Kazmi said that in the recent past Karachi had gone through bad times and now needed to enjoy life, adding that Napa was trying to do its part by presenting good plays. He said that people complained that Napa’s tickets were expensive but pointed out that this could not be avoided because the overhead expenditure to produce a play was high and the academy was not making any profit, but in fact incurring losses.

“We have to pay Rs25,000 per day to the Arts Council for the auditorium and the generator costs Rs20,000, while the set costs Rs2,000,” he said.

He added that portions of the premises had been encroached upon by the police department and another organization which has lawns situated next to Napa, but they had not been issued any notice.

Five months ago Sindh Minister for Culture Sassui Palejo had declared that the Hindu Gymkhana belonged to the Hindu community and would be returned to them.

At a later state she said the Gymkhana was a heritage building and Napa had committed a breach of contract by building an auditorium on the premises, and ordered the academy to vacate the premises by December 2008.

Napa’s administrators claim the academy was established after a notification had been issued by the federal government in 2005 as a private limited company and had done nothing wrong.

Arshad Mahmood, the director for music studies at Napa, said he is trying to resolve the matter with the secretary of culture, Shams Jafferani, who is an ex-officio member of the board of directors of Napa.