PESHAWAR   -     The artiste community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has appealed the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan and KP Minister for Culture Shoukat Yousafzai and officials of the Culture Department KP to include them in the Corona Relief Package as the artist community, like many others, has been hit hard by the lockdown.

They said that like other people, the artist community has also been severely affected. Chairman of Pakhtunkhwa Arts Council Zardad Bulbul, President of Awaz of Artists’ Voice, Tariq Jamal, renowned singer and President of Henry Tolna, Rashid Ahmed Khan, Senior Artists Ishrat Abbas Ahmed Sajjad said that the artists are just like a laborer who work on daily basis and due to lockdown they and their families are facing hardship. “If there is no work, then how can they could be able to run the affairs of their families at home.

They said that the government and especially the culture department did not even ask them for any financial or food package support.

They demanded the government to provide immediate relief package to the needy and deserving artists. They said that the stoves in the houses of the artists have gone cold, they have run out of resources to pay their utility bills, white-collar artiste even cannot ask to anyone for support, therefore, the government should come forward and extend a helping hands to to the artists.