Lahore – Students came hard on the Punjab Assembly (PA) on Wednesday for seeking a ban on music concerts in educational institutions while academicians gave a mixed response.
The PA on Tuesday had unanimously passed a resolution for a ban on “objectionable” musical concerts in public and private educational institutions, which was tabled by PML-Q MPA Seemal Kamran. The resolution had been presented in wake of the stampede incident, which claimed lives of three girls of a private college a few weeks ago. Earlier in January last year, stage dancer Deedar’s concert at Government College University (GCU) had also made headlines for being declared as obscene by some stakeholders.
GCU Vice-Chancellor (VC) Dr Khaliqur Rehman said that healthy activities should continue in educational institutions but in a “controlled” manner. He said that these activities must be in line with our traditions. If an event creates indiscipline in students, it must be stopped, Khaliq said. The VC said that all activities in educational institutions must be in limits and under certain conditions to ensure discipline and decorum of the place.
Lawyer Saad Rasool, who teaches law at Punjab University (PU), said that it was a step forward to cultural suffocation, which the country was suffering from. According to the constitution, it was the government’s responsibility to protect the social well being of the people and provide them with opportunities of entertainment. He advised parliamentarians to focus on their duty. Rasool said that the resolution depicted the mindset of the parliamentarians.
FC College student Mudassar Iqbal expressed anger saying, “I am astonished at the intelligent MPAs who decided to ban music after an incident of stampede instead of making arrangements for security”. He said that many people died in stampedes during Hajj, so whether it should be banned as well.
Students asked legislators to define the term “objectionable”, as they said that it was a very vague term to be used on an assembly floor. PU student Durr-e-Shahwar Memon said that legislators were supposed to talk responsibly on the assembly floor. “What is objectionable by the way? Female singers or male, Atif Aslam or Abida Parveen?” she asked. Is music against the teachings of religion then why do not you ban every musical performance, be it on TV or concert at all,” she said. LSE student Hiba Khan questioned the understanding of parliamentarians saying, “If they had any reservations on the stampede, they would have improved the security conditions”. If they think that the media played down the news, they must bring a regulating law for the media but what was the reason of seeking such irresponsible bans, she asked.
Islami Jamiat-e-Talba, notorious for attacking music-related activities in the varsity staged a rally in favour of the resolution. The hard line group called the opponents of the resolution as “un-Islamic”. Terming it as an agenda of the capitalistic world, IJT Lahore chief Akhzar Nazeer said that the youth was being trapped to immorality and Weestern culture. He said that clerics must expose the traps of the West. Music activities at PU were banned a long time ago due to dear of hard line groups. Music classes at the varsity were already being held under threat. pakistantoday

Concert stampede: Complex security in-charge gets bail
LAHORE:

Additional District and Sessions Judge Shahida Saeed on Wednesday confirmed the after-arrest bail of Major (retired) Muhammad Saleem, who was in charge of security at the Alhamra Cultural Complex two weeks ago when three girls were killed and six injured in a stampede following a concert.
The judge confirmed his bail against surety of Rs100,000. Saleem contended that he bore no responsibility for the deaths at the concert for students of the Punjab Group of Colleges on January 9. He said that the stampede was caused by a boy who shouted that there was a bomb in the arena, causing panic. He said that there was no negligence on the part of the college administration or venue security.
The complainant in the case, Naseem Abbas Malik, lost his daughter Maheen in the stampede and named Saleem, Agha Tahir Saleem (principal of the college) and Muhammad Iqbal, security guard of the college, as accused. The case was registered at Gulberg police station under Sections 322 and 337/L2 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Malik said that at the end of the concert, the main exit of the venue was not opened and instead the students were crammed into a narrow lane leading to a small side exit. He said that security guards deputed by the college administration started pushing back at the crowd and then began swinging their batons, causing the stampede in the crowd of “more than one thousand girls”. He accused the respondents of negligence.Published in The Express Tribune,
Young? Bored? Lonely? Get used to it. Given the current direction that we are moving in, the only remaining option for young people to entertain themselves will be to stare contemplatively at the wall. Just fix your eye on a spot and wait for sleep to take over. If nothing else, it will help pass the time. This is not necessarily a bad thing. A strict diet of quiet meditation could have served me well in my youth. The quest for entertainment led me to listen to some terrible songs and hold some regrettable hands. Thankfully, from this moment on, Pakistanis will be spared such traumatic experiences.
The War against Youthful Experiences is being fought hard and unrelentingly by brave warriors like Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah. Using the kind of deft touch that can only be taught in the same school that produces Lahore High Court judges, the minister looked at the problems plaguing Pakistan today, like corruption, poverty, crime and terrorism and did the only thing a man devoted to the law could do: he proposed a ban on concerts. It was a tough decision and someone had to make it. And when times are as dark as these, with challenges as insurmountable, Rana Sanaullah is the man you want fighting for truth, justice and the Pakistani way. Like a local Judge Dredd, he saw past the clutter and brought down his meaty fist of logic. His mind leapt like Alexander confronted with a Gordian knot, except instead of slicing it in half, he proceeded to tie his own brain in the same knotted configuration. His reason for banning concerts was unquestionably manly. Anyone else would have taken a look at the tragedy that occurred at a recent Atif Aslam concert and decided to make whining and mewling complaints about greater need for proper event organisation and venues with properly marked exits. Maybe even a stricter adherence to limiting audience numbers. But Rana Sanaullah has no time for such childish haggling. If a tragedy occurred at a concert, then to him the concert is to blame. That’s just how he rolls. He is now going to shift his focus towards the recent tragic deaths of over 65 patients caused by medicines prescribed by the Punjab Institute of Cardiology. It’s only a matter of time before he responds by banning medicine, institutes, cardiology and patients.
So if you are young and wanted to listen to some live music, maybe jump around in an awkward approximation of rhythm, then do it fast while you are still allowed to. If, however, you want to indulge those yearnings for companionship and romance that we all feel and find that an open air park is just the place to do so, then your luck ran out already. No more can the young lover sit under the shade of a tree and read poems to his intended, nor can he and she inch their fingers towards one another’s hands on a wooden bench while birds chirp in the background. Maya Khan, self-appointed avenging emissary of decency, celibacy and parental disapproval will swoop down on you like a drone that is prone to breaking out into Bollywood dance routines. Flanked by an army of women who will hunt you down and lecture you with the precision of a laser-guided missile full of self-righteousness, she prowls the grasslands of Pakistan seeking out romance wherever it may dare to blossom. Samaa TV, on which she airs her wretchedly unwatchable morning show has clearly decided that ratings spikes are far more important than, say, responsible behaviour or respect for privacy. Which is why I am planning to put up cameras in their bathrooms that broadcast live.
So if you are young, get ready to get bored. Until someone finds fault in that too.
Published in The Express Tribune,

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