KARACHI, Aug 27: A drama expert in dramatic art on Monday told a group of students of the Mass Communication Department of the Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology that theatre was the basic communication means for human beings.

Dr S.N.M. Shahzad, Director of the School of Dramatic Arts, told a workshop, conducted by the department for its students of performing art communication, that “theatrical communication has its history as old as human intelligence.” Our ancestors would communicate with one another through this means well before the emergence of a spoken language, he said.

Dr Shahzad observed that in Pakistan, this great source of communication was left unattended and almost abandoned by the government and society despite the fact that the country’s founding father had great fondness for it.

“The Quaid-i-Azam was a member of a dramatic society in London during his studies abroad,” he recalled.

Dr Shahzad noted with pleasure that drama was still being taught at some public sector universities as a subject of literature or mass communication.

While suggesting to the FUUAST students to establish a drama club, he said every university of Pakistan should have at least one such club that could help create a healthy environment at campuses.

Professor Tauseef Ahmed Khan, chairman of the department, speaking at the workshop said the event was 11th in the series of such discussions organised by the department.