Culture dept wants control of Frere Hall, Aiwan-e-Riffat auditorium

Both buildings currently come under Karachi Metropolitan Corporation

KARACHI:

Sindh government has set sights on Frere Hall and Aiwan-e-Riffat auditorium, hoping to seek ownership and control of the buildings.

The culture, tourism and antiquities department has submitted a summary to Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah to transfer the administration of the colonial-era structure, Frere Hall, and the auditorium built inside Burnes Gardens, which was allotted to the famous couple Atiya and artist Fyzee Rahamin when they came to Pakistan in 1947.

According to the department’s summary dated February 10 this year, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, the culture department does not have any place of its own to hold cultural programmes, festivals and exhibitions. It has to rent space from the market, stated the summary submitted by secretary Niaz Ali Abbasi.

Frere Hall is presently under the administrative control of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) but its conservation work is not up to the mark, he wrote. “In fact, Frere Hall is not being looked after properly by the KMC for reasons that they always have financial issues and they lack in conservation and archaeological wing,” the summary stated.

Niaz goes on to state that the culture department possesses the expertise, such as conservationists and the funds needed for cultural activities, to take care of Frere Hall. Hence, he sought government directives for the culture department to take over Frere Hall.

The summary also makes a similar case for Aiwan-e-Riffat auditorium, which houses Fyzee Rahamin Art Gallery, and is under the administrative control of the KMC. The halls are underutilised for a long time and the administration should be transferred to the culture department, the summary said.

Bureaucracy in motion

After the summary was received at CM House, it was forwarded to the local government department for comments. The local government department then wrote to Karachi administrator Sajjad Hussain Abbasi to give his comments. Sajjad was unavailable for comments when The Express Tribune tried to reach him but metropolitan commissioner Samiuddin Siddiqui denied receiving any such summary.



Even Sindh CM’s special assistant on culture, Sharmila Farooqi, denied going through any such summary. Niaz has accepted that he sent a summary to CM House.

Unlikely transfer

KMC’s culture, sports and recreation director Raza Abbas, who has received this summary, explained that the culture department wants to take these sites away from KMC and that, according to him, is not possible.

The late Atiya Fyzee donated her property, clothes and all other belongings to the KMC, he claimed. “Now, KMC is the custodian of the Fyzee Rahamin Art Gallery,” he said, adding that its ownership and administration can never be transferred. As far as Frere Hall is concerned, Raza insisted that KMC is looking after it far better than the Sindh government could. “The Karachi Eat Festival was held there [Frere Hall] recently and now the Karachi Tea Festival is scheduled to be held,” he pointed out. KMC was also the custodian of Sadequain Art Gallery inside Frere Hall and, Raza said, it cannot be transferred.

Mayor-nominee Wasim Akhtar, who belongs to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, said that Frere Hall generates revenue for KMC which is why the Sindh government wants to take it away.

On Sindh government’s accusation that KMC was not handling Frere Hall properly, Akhtar asked: “Are they ruling over Sindh properly?”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 29^th,  2016.