‘Sindh not to accept any ban on cultural celebrations on campuses’

The Sindh government of the Pakistan Peoples Party has said that it would resist any move by the Centre to impose a ban on programmes in the universities of the province to highlight and celebrate regional/provincial cultures.

The chief minister’s adviser on examination boards and universities, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, has said that a correspondence sent by the federal government to impose a ban on programmes in the universities in Sindh to highlight different regional/provincial cultures in the country is against the spirit of the Constitution and very the concept of provincial autonomy.

In a statement issued on Friday, he announced that he would write a letter to the prime minister to register his protest against the federal government’s dispatch to impose the ban on programmes based on regional/provincial cultures in the universities of the province.

He said the federal government by imposing such a ban had the intention to revive the dictatorial regime of former military ruler Ayub Khan. He said the federal government by making such an attempt had tried to revive the system of one administrative unit in the country.

Khuhro said the Sindhi culture and language had a rich history dating back to several thousand years, and the province would not accept any such ban on programmes to be held to highlight the culture of the region.

“The federal government is under obligation to answer in case it distastes the culture so much. Then, why Abida Parveen has been given an award,” he said. “The federation has so much aversion to the culture. The day will come when there would be a ban on signing the poetry of Baba Bulleh Shah, Allama Iqbal, and Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai.”

He said they had struggled for the cause of provincial autonomy, so nobody could stop them from celebrating the regional cultures. He said regional languages and cultures did carry a historical importance, so it was in the best interest of the federal government not to take any action against these cultures in violation of the constitution.

Khuhro asked the federal government to inform him about the law being used by it to impose the ban, as on the contrary efforts were made to highlight the Sindhi culture not just in Pakistan but around the world. He said he would write a letter to the PM to agitate on the issue.