LAHORE: The administration of the Lahore Museum on Thursday removed the statue of “Dirtoo”, a villainous character of a famous cartoon advertisement, installed at its entrance after a petition landed in the Lahore High Court pleading the installation was against cultural values and had no significance in history of Pakistan.

Barrister Ambreen Qureshi contended in her petition that the statue, which had recently been installed by the museum’s administration, was of no historical, scientific, artistic, cultural or educational value.

She said the Lahore Museum fell under the definition of historical buildings of the country and installing such statue there amounted to undermining its historical and cultural value.

During hearing of the petition in the court of Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan, Barrister Qureshi argued that the impact of installing a “demonic statue” that too at the entrance of the museum, which served the purpose of educating citizens, was negative.

She pointed out that Article 28 of the Constitution gave the citizens right to preserve culture and the statue at the museum was against the cultural history and heritage of Pakistan.

The lawyer asked the court to order the museum management to immediately remove the statue and seek an undertaking that no such object would be placed on the premises in future which would undermine its historical and cultural value.

Justice Khan also expressed concern over the matter and sought replies from the Punjab chief secretary, the government and the museum director within a week.

Meanwhile, in a bid to preempt a possible adverse order from the court, the museum management removed the statue on its own.

A museum official told Dawn that the statue had been removed following the court’s proceedings and reaction from the public.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2019