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PPP goons disrupted the Shanakht Festival (venue: Arts Council, Karachi) in response to "objectionable" picture of Benazir.
The festival was disrupted late in the evening on the first day (Apr 8, 2009). Organizers appeared on Samaa TV that same evening to apologize. PPP speaker of Sindh Assembly Shehla Raza commented on the show and voiced her support for the action.
Recall the similarity to Qazi Hussain Ahmed (former head Jamaat-e-Islami) use of the "radd-e-ammal" excuse for justifying just about anything. Taliban killed some people - it is a "radd-e-ammal". This suits the JI which is basically not aligned with the idea of Pakistan with their intent to dismantle the setup and institute a JI inspired structure where voting resides in "acceptable people" only.
However this does not suit PPP's image as a moderate art-loving force.
By the evening of the first day the festival was tentatively cancelled. The next day it was again supposed to be on - with appropriate apologies and perhaps some grudging acceptance by PPP leadership. However later it was announced that it was cancelled.
DAWN TV program Newsline (Saima Mohsin) interviews two organizers of the festival on the second day. And questions how much art has to respect the ambient culture or sensibility.
The picture in question features past leaders of Pakistan in a "family photo" setting. It shows Benazir on the left, quite ordinarily sitting on Zia-ul-Haq's lap, while Mujib-ur-Rahman (of 1971 War/Bangladesh fame) has his arms around Yahya Khan's shoulder.
I guess the impression the photo wanted to give was that these "leaders" are all out to hoodwink the public while they are all in it together. Or that they are joined in their ability to destroy, loot, or disrupt the country.
This photo was in a separate section for newer artists and featured a number of other such art pieces.
However, as usually happens with "Art" exhibits - esp. in Pakistan where there is perhaps very little peer scrutiny and few questions get asked of people, that a lot of hazily thought out ideas get presented as "Art".
So in this case, there WAS a slight odd thing about the photo - in that it showed Benazir close to Zia-ul-Haq as if she was his creation (which maybe true in a way i.e. he was instrumental in her father's death which brought her to prominence, but that can scarcely be used to suggest they were "close" or in cahoots).
And so THAT part of the photo DID seem a bit unthought-out.
The photo would have been FAR more understandable if it had Nawaz Sharif in the lap of Zia-ul-Haq, because Zia DID have a direct role in the elevation of Nawaz Sharif.
For this reason it was probably half-baked art and a poor effort at commentary.
It is debatable however if PPP goons have the right to disrupt a festival organized by lots of volunteers for the benefit of the public.
If you allow PPP goons to disrupt, then you should be mentally prepared to allow the Taliban to do the same. Public ACCEPTANCE of such behaviour is in line with comments made by some like Sheikh Rashid (see his video) about the "emotional voter". Emotion has value, but it should not trump reason and moderation on all occasions.
What many political party workers do not understand is that for a large majority of people these "leaders" are not holy cows. They have serious failings.
However Benazir HAS acquired an emotional place for some because of her assassination. And there are some sensibilities to be considered as well.
