Just as we were expecting to hear of a retraction from Indian artists on attending the upcoming edition of Shaan-e-Pakistan in Lahore next month, the event organizer, Huma Nassr announced that in the wake of the current situation, they would not be inviting the Indian contingent.
Shaan-e-Pakistan, a platform created to promote cross cultural activities between India and Pakistan, had just recently announced the lineup for their upcoming event, scheduled to take place in Lahore between March 21 and March 22. Retitled as Shaan-e-Pakistan Musical Achievements (SEPMA 2019), to be organized with a focus on music, the event had officially announced the participation of Rekha Bhardwaj, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Javed Bashir, Sanam Marvi, Harshdeep Kaur, Amanat Ali and many more for live performances. In a patriotic move, made in response to the various bans and replacements of Pakistani artistes in Indian projects, Huma Nassr yesterday announced that they would be having the event without the Indians.
According to the official press statement, “Shaan-e-Pakistan’s upcoming music achievements (event) #SEPMA2019 strongly condemns and denounces that India and some of the Indian artists are fueling an extremely negative political sentiment between both the countries, which is rather unfortunate because art and talent must propagate peace and love rather than hatred and animosity. Huma Nassr from Shaan-e-Pakistan has just announced that at this stage the current sentiments on both sides will no longer be able to host and provide hospitality to our Indian Counterpart. As much as this de-aligns our vision of people to people relation without boundaries, we do feel the event was always created for showcasing the Subcontinent in positive light, hence we have decided to remove the Indian artists from our upcoming show immediately that is to be held in Lahore in the last week of March. The event is about lauding talented artists from the music industry and will continue to go with or without the cross border talent.”
One has to say that the event has been on a rocky road and has encountered unfavourable circumstances since conception. It kicked off in 2015, with an event in New Delhi titled, ‘Kya Dilli Kya Lahore’, and the idea was to take Pakistani talent to India on a collaborative platform. Following Uri and the consequential ban on Pakistani actors to work in India, Huma Nassr brought the event to Pakistan, inviting Indian delegates here. The pitch was still cross-cultural exchange between the two countries. One wonders how this will continue now, following Pulwama, at a time when all form of cross-cultural activity has come to a sudden halt. One feels the event needs a complete rethink if it is to survive.
