It was very nice to visit the Lok Mela here on Saturday. The venue witnessed massive rush of entertainment-starved people. But seeing just 10 stalls in the Balochistan pavilion was simply disappointing. At least three of these stalls were deserted. Keeping in mind the peculiar situation this largest but the most neglected province finds itself in, perhaps was the main cause of dismal presence of artistes and artisans at the pavilion.
lok mela festival in Balochistan
Visitors during brief chat with The News also noticed the lacklustre show at the pavilion and said on such occasions in the past, Balochistan always made its presence felt in terms of the number of artisans and artistes and their works in the melas. This correspondent talked to some of the artists to ascertain as to why Balochistan had poor presence in the mela and they complained about the mind-set, which had brought the province to the present situation: they were also not happy with Punjab, which they billed as a big brother.
We have nothing to do with politics or the number of seats Punjab or Balochistan get in the parliament, but what we can say is that our brothers in the biggest province should show more warmth and large-heartedness towards us, remarked one of the artistes, who did not want to be identified in the story.
He pointed out that a depiction of what picture Balochistan presented today and what people mostly thought about the centre could be indirectly felt while having a visit of the pavilion. However, he was quick to insist they wanted a realistic approach of the federal capital towards the federating units. Contrary to the artiste s guarded observation, Programme Officer at the pavilion Abdul Ghaffar Mengal preferred to speak openly and without the condition of being anonymous about the reasons behind their dismal show. He claimed they were given just two days to rush to Islamabad and be a part of the festivities here. Earlier, we were told the mela would be held in April this year and then it was postponed, he said.
On a more serious note, Mengal did not hesitate to say that an influential section of Balochistan society was angry with Punjab, as whosoever talked about their rights and resources was branded as rebel. If we take example of a family, it is always the eldest brother who looks after the younger ones, but there is a common feeling that this is not happening in their case, he maintained. He also complained about not-so-good attitude of the Lok Virsa administration towards them, particularly in terms of hotelling and transportation and lodging. In all, around 800 people from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan and AJK have participated in the mela. But share of Balochistan is just 75 persons.
Lok Virsa s Executive Director Khalid Javed, when approached for comments on the matter, said due to harsh weather and the artistes and artisans spread over in far-flung areas, it was not possible to convince more and more of them to visit Islamabad. He dispelled the impression Balochistan s relevant quarters were intimated late about the mela and claimed letters regarding the event were written to the chief secretaries the same day. He added because of a long continuing tug of war between Marri and Bugti tribes, people were reluctant to take risk and travel to the federal capital.
All 800 persons are our guests and it is our utmost effort to make them comfortable. Majority has been lodged in Rawalpindi hotels and some of them may have some complaints, which we regret, Khalid contended. He was happy that despite inhospitable weather and security situation, people had been visiting the mela in massive numbers. He noted the event that had been an annual feature, was organised after a gap of four years.
Muhammad Khan and Abdullah are two artists from Balochistan in their early 70: Khan spell bounds others by playing narr , a kind of flute; while Abdullah is a folk singer, who still has enough strength in his lungs to perform in a perfect way.
Khan has been to Paris thrice and Turkey once and still he cherishes those visits. He is worried about his family because of price-hike and his shrinking resources, hit hard by the last year s floods. He has two spouses: six sons and as many daughters to feed. Khan is from Dera Murad Jamali. Major attraction for public at the pavilion was folk dance by the youth of Balochistan: both Balochs and Pakhtuns; and performance of the singers was also awesome tinged with their traditional musical instruments.
