KOHAT: More than 200 paintings were displayed at a largely attended two-day art exhibition held here in Bacha Khan Library.

The exhibition that concluded here the other day was organised by renowned artist Liaquat Ali Khan. Senior district emergency officer of 1122 Arif Khattak was chief guest on the occasion. The beautiful canvas illustrations were portrayed by the students of Liaquat Ali Khan Art Academy. Visitors showed keen interest in the abstract art.

The chief guest took a round of the gallery and appreciated the work of artists. Later, paintings were presented to the chief guest on behalf of Liquat Ali Khan Art Academy.

Mr Liaquat has the honour of making a 8,000 square feet wooden portrait of Qaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, having 500 pieces of 4X4, when he was in Abu Dhabi. The portrait had been rusting in the compound of Capital Development Authority in Islamabad since 2007.

He said that the deputy commissioner, Abdul Akram Chitrali, had promised during a visit to the exhibition to bring back the Quiad’s painting to Kohat and erect it in the district by collecting donations and allocating funds. He said that Mr Chitrali had planned to take with him art students and elders to bring back the painting.

He said that late prime minister Benazir Bhutto and late army chief and president Pervez Musharraf had promised him during meetings in Dubai to install the painting in Islamabad in 2001. But CDA was not ready to give due respect to the founder of the nation by installing the painting, he alleged.

He has also painted 30,000 square feet of 4x4 hundreds joined pieces neural on the life of the founder of United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, which has been erected at square in Abu Dhabi.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2025