PESHAWAR - The Culture Journalists Forum (CJF) has urged the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to approve cultural policy forthwith during current session of the provincial assembly to root out the ongoing obscenity and vulgarity from some of the Pashto CDs and movies presented under the garb of promoting Pashtun culture. The Forum has called upon the KPK government to take concrete steps to bring an end to vulgarity and using arms in films and CDs breeding violence among youngsters and also presenting a negative image of Pashtun society.
The CJF also demanded the government to build cultural theatres, art galleries and auditoriums on the pattern of Nishtar Hall in all districts of the militancy-hit province, adding that healthy commercial shows should be allowed in Nishtar Hall with subsidised rents so that art and local culture could be promoted and cheap entertainment be provided to public and youth at large.
The Forum maintained that measures should be taken to ameliorate the plight of deserving artistes, directors, singers, painters, producers, filmmakers and writers/poets affiliated with the Pashto entertainment industry as they had been the worst hit during the ongoing terrorism and militancy.
Members of the culture journalists also appealed to Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan to take immediate action against the obscenity and gun culture being screened in Pashto CDs, films and dramas that were bent upon projecting not only a negative of our Pashtun society but also damaged peace- building efforts at various level thus casting an adverse impact on the minds of our youth who were already hit by frustration, unemployment and depression.
The CJF has appealed to general public, civic bodies and literary and cultural circles to put their hands together to raise voice against those so called producers, distributors, films/CDs makers, artistes investors who had been presenting a distorted image of Pashtun society to the world.
The Forum has called upon the provincial culture minister Shah Farman to make it mandatory for artistes and shows managers who paid foreign visits especially to Gulf -States to get a proper No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa culture ministry so they could be held responsible for presenting negative image of our province.