Removal of poets’ portraits from PAL gallery irks Rabbani

Ag APP

ISLAMABAD: Former chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani Saturday while referring to reported removal of portraits of legendary poets from Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL), alleged the government was intending to destroy libraries and cultural heritage.

“It is a horrendous and arrogant act on the part of the government to denude the gallery of the PAL of the portraits of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Asadullah Khan Ghalib, Ahmed Faraz and other revered mystic poets,” he charged in a statement issued in reaction to the development.

He pointed out that the writing and poetry of these men of letter, had a deep imprint on the creation and political development of a progressive Pakistan. “Their shadows cast long on the cultural horizon of Pakistan. The removal of their portraits is perhaps the first step as the government may now move to remove or ban their books in Pakistan,” he regretted.

“It is a historically known fact that if you want to wage a war against a country and destroy it from within then you burn its libraries and destroy its cultural heritage, is this what the federal government is intending to do,” he maintained.

Rabbani emphasised that an immediate inquiry need to be held in this matter and an exemplary action taken against the officials concerned. “I am writing a letter to the chairman, Standing Committee on National Heritage, Senate of Pakistan to take immediate suo motu notice and inform the people of Pakistan as to why they are being robbed of their cultural heritage. Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) on Saturday denied removing the portraits of Allama Dr Muhammad Iqbal, Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Mirza Ghalib from its gallery.

There was no veracity in the media reports of removing the portraits of legendary poets from PAL's gallery, said a spokesman of PAL in a statement issued here.

He said the portraits were removed for a few days for cleaning the accumulated dust and repairing the damaged frames. Some elements mistakenly reported that the portraits were removed forever.

PAL was still considering to refix the portraits in a prominent place of its hall. However, the portraits have been refixed at the previous place. PAL could not even think about removing portraits of such personalities, the press release added.

Likewise, Mirza Ghalib and Faiz Ahmed Faiz were two great poets of Urdu language and country’s national language was incomplete without their master pieces. PAL was the most prominent national institute which was working for the promotion of Pakistani languages.