PESHAWAR: Different literary and cultural organisations celebrated global music freedom day across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Malakand, Swat, Bunir, Swabi, Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda, Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar.

The Culture Journalists Forum (CJF) and Takhleeq Development Foundation (TDF) jointly arranged a musical evening at Peshawar Services Club here on Monday. Mian Iftikhar Hussain graced the event as the chief guest.

The Peshawar Press Club Cultural Committee (PPCC), Pakhtunkhwa Cultural Foundation (PCF) and Cultural Journalist Forum (CJF) also arranged seminars and musical concerns at the Achieves Hall, press club, and Peshawar Services Club. Young and old singers including Gul Panra, Gul Sanga, Shahsawar, Saima Naz, Akbar Hussain, Gulab Afridi, Sardar Yousafzai, Amjad Shehzad, Karan Khan and Ustad Nazeer Gul also performed.

While addressing the participants, former provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that music could be used to propagate message of peace and harmony among people adding that during tenure of his government he did much for boosting literary and cultural activities and set up a culture directorate for addressing genuine issues of the singers and artists. He said singers were responsible for preserving oral history of Pashtuns through their art.

The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should announce a well-articulated cultural policy as it would change the miserable plight of the artists of the militancy plagued province, Mr Hussain said. He said his government had extended financial support to hundreds of singers and artists but regretfully it did not seem to be the priority of the incumbent KP government.

Dr Khadim Hussain, managing director of Bacha Khan Educational Foundation (BKEF), said that artists were a great asset and they should be protected at all costs.

He said negative forces were bent upon eliminating Pashtun’s cultural identity but they would never succeed in their evil designs. Cultural identity could not be wiped out because it lived among people arguing that despite all odds Pashto music improved over the years as new singers emerged, he observed.

Ihtisham Toru, president Culture Journalists Forum (CJF), demanded of the KP government to solve problems of the artists and singers. He said artists and singers had no voice to raise their issues, however, previous KP government had kept alive spirit of artist’s community.“We have several times tried our best to do something about issues of the artists but no avail, we shall continue to talk on their behalf at every forum, artists and singers are being faced by numerous problems including security and financial constraints which needs immediate solution,” he urged.

Noted TV actor and president of Takhleeq Development Foundation (TDF) Arshad Hussain said that artists and singers were the most vulnerable segment of the society. He said successive governments had been ignoring them. Institutions are there, even cultural policy document which had prepared in the tenure of ANP KP government is also lying in the shelf but nobody is bothering to bring it out to at least have a glance at it, Mr Hussain regretted.

Wazir Khan Afridi, a young folk singer, complained that the local media was mistreating his community. A week ago media ran false news of my death which was shocking for me and my fans. Despite my clarification no news outlet ran it. “We expect media to become our voice but it is the other way round,” he said.

Tariq Jamal, president artists organisation Awaz, said that 95 per cent artists and singers lived at rented rooms in the city, most of them had been confined to city only because of the poor law and order situation.