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Sindh govt rubbishes propaganda against London Sufi Festival

By Fazil Jamili
October 04, 2017

KARACHI: Defying propaganda against the London Sufi Festival, the Sindh Culture Department on Wednesday has cleared the air by disclosing all the proposed expenses of the festival to the public.

The Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Department Government of Sindh, in collaboration with Sindhi Association of Europe (SAE), is organizing ‘Sufi Cultural Festival’ in London on 7th October.

It was alleged by certain quarters that the government was wasting public money on organizing a cultural festival in UK.

Secretary, Culture Department Akbar Laghari refuted the allegations saying those propagating against the festival are doing this on personal grudge.

“London is an International cultural capital where programs from different countries are held regularly. A lot of Sindhi and other communities of Pakistan are living there,” he said. “It’s high time that Sindhi culture be displayed at the cultural capital of Europe and for this the assembly has sanctioned the budget.”

In a meeting on Wednesday to finalize the arrangements, the department discussed financial responsibilities of all the collaborating partners threadbare. It calculated the total expenditure which will be like this:

Details of the expenses

  1. Performance fees of artists:3000000/=
  2. Air tickets of troupe: 2800000/=
  3. Visa fees 400000/=
  4. Booking of hall 840000/=
  5. Hall accessories: 420000/= (Sound, microphones, light, extra chairs etc)
  6. Local transport 110000/=
  7. Postage in the UK and Europe 90000/=
  8. Accommodation for troupe 1400000/=
  9. Food for troupe 280000/=
  10. Banners 80000/=
  11. Fees of Renu Gidwani 80000/=
  12. Fees of Suhai Abro 112000/=
  13. Ticket for Suhai Abro 18000/= (From Italy)

    *Total* 9630000/=

It was decided that, the provincial government will bear the expenses of tickets, visa and the Performance fees for artists from Pakistan, whereas the rest of the expenses will be borne by Sindhi Association of Europe from its own resources.

Besides performances by the artists, eight historical books, reprinted by the department, will also be launched during the festival.


The author tweets @faziljamili