Artistes protest stipend non-payment

PESHAWAR: The Artistes Alliance, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter, on Tuesday staged a protest demonstration against the Directorate of Culture for stopping their monthly stipend.

The protest was held outside the Peshawar Press Club, which was led by Artistes Alliance president Zulfiqar Qureshi, general secretary Zar Mohammad, Ishrat Abbas, Reema Khan and Ameenullah Kundi.

The protesters said the government had allocated fund for the artistes in 2016 and it started giving Rs30,000 monthly stipend per artiste.

They alleged that the sitting secretary had stopped payment of the stipend to the deserving artistes and they were compelled to move the court of law.

The artistes said that the court had also directed the Culture Directorate to release the stipend but still the artists were being deprived of their rights.

They complained that they had not yet been issued Sehat Insaf Cards though the government had committed with them.

The artistes warned of staging a protest outside the Banigala residence of prime minister if their demands were not met.