PESHAWAR, Aug 17: Federal Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli has urged artistes to portray a positive image of the country through their art.

“Being ambassadors of the country, artistes are required to reflect the true image of the country abroad,” she said, while addressing a function organized by the Artistes Welfare Association Zoom (Awaz) here on Tuesday.

The minister criticized the MMA-led provincial government for banning musical and cultural shows in the Nishtar Hall, and said that the federal government would move a proposal to lease out the hall to artistes’ community.

“Nobody can sustain a ban on cultural activities, because people are fond of their cultures,” she said.

Some steps of the MMA government in the NWFP were sending bad signals to the outer world about the country’s image and urged the people and artistes to come forward and undo such propaganda unleashed by religious extremists.

“We all are Muslims and do not need clerics to decide about relations with Almighty Allah,” she said.

She sought artistes’ support for the governments’ endeavours against population growth.

In response to the charter of demands presented by Awaz, the minister said that she would take up the issue housing society for artistes with the federal ministry of culture. She announced a grant of Rs50,000 for the welfare of artistes.

Earlier, Awaz’s president Tariq Jamal said that 95 per cent of artistes lived in rented houses, saying that they were leading a miserable life, because they were entirely dependent on their performance at the PTV.

“Most of the artistes do not have the opportunities to perform at the PTV because of very limited programmes,” he said, adding that some of them faced extreme economic difficulties in case of illnesses or disabilities or old age. Awaz Patron-in-chief Javaid Babar said that the government had built housing colonies for PTV employees, but ignored artistes.

He criticized the provincial culture department for its lukewarm response towards the problems faced by performers.