Punjab Assembly discusses dances in local theatres

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Babar Dogar
THE Punjab Assembly has put the blame of prevailing obscene and vulgar dances in theatres on courts, alleging that courts had allowed situational dances when the provincial government wanted to ban them.

The Punjab Assembly discussed Labour, Culture and Sports departments during question-answer session here on Monday. PML-Q parliamentarian Amina Ulfat moved the attention of the House toward vulgar and obscene dances and dialogues in theatres. She said the Culture Department had admitted in its answer to her question that vulgar and substandard dramas were being presented in private theatres throughout the province, including the provincial metropolis. The Culture department further admitted that it was the responsibility of the district coordination officers and the Home Department to take action against the actor and actresses involved in obscene actions and dances, she maintained.

Amina Ulfat said that after the department had confessed that vulgar and obscene dramas were being presented in the theatres, the assembly should know what measures were taken to overcome solve the issue.

Responding to PML-Q MPA’s query, Uzma Bukhari, parliamentary secretary Culture, said the department had the authority to ban the artists involved in obscenity while the DCOs and the Home department could enforce their decisions through police. She said the court had allowed dances on stage. She said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had constituted a cell, comprising a police official, DCO and director of the Punjab Arts Council, to check growing vulgarity in stage dramas. She said that Punjab government was administering theatres under 1870 Act and it wanted to bring legislation in this regard. She alleged that PML-Q government had done nothing to overcome vulgarity and how could its members raise concerns about it.

Amina Ulfat, in a response, said whether the court had also permitted vulgar dances and meaningful dialogues in theatres. She said Ms Uzma Bukari should also make it clear whether the government was following the PML-Q legacy and if so it should resign and allow the PML-Q to continue.

Deputy Speaker Rana Mashud said we could not leave everything on courts’ mercy and the government had the responsibility of cleansing the society. Khawaja Imran of the PML-N said the government had imposed a ban on stag dances but courts had allowed situational dances which was a deplorable thing. He requested the deputy speaker to constitute a parliamentary committee to look into the matter.

Sheikh Allaudin from the PML-Q forward bloc asked the parliamentary secretary whether the actor-actresses were paying any taxes. He said stage actors were paying meagre taxes while they were living lavishly in Defence. Amina Ulfat stressed for constituting a parliamentary committee for adopting measures to eliminate obscenity from theatres. But the deputy Speaker turned down her request on the plea that he could not constitute the parliamentary committee under the rules. He said the parliamentary secretary had already addressed her concerns and they had discussed the matter at length.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=204131