Tired of red tape: Kamran Lashari resigns from Lahore Arts Council

Information Secretary Raja Jehangir says resignation is yet to be accepted.

LAHORE: Disappointed with delays in issuance of permission for cultural events, Kamran Lashari, a retired bureaucrat, resigned from the chairmanship of the board of governors of Lahore Arts Council (LAC) on Wednesday.

However, Information Secretary Raja Jehangir said the resignation was yet to be accepted.

The No Objection Certificate (NOC) required for the holding cultural events, according to the Lahore Arts Council members, were delayed beyond the very date of the event. Some events were allowed before the NOC was issued on behest of LAC whereas some events had to be cancelled at the eleventh hour.

Lahore Arts Council members commented that with condition like these, situation could not return to normalcy. According to them, Lashari was disappointed with the ‘red-tapism’ and tendered his resignation to focus more on the Walled City Authority.

Commenting on his resignation, Lashari told The Express Tribune the situation was not conducive enough to work at the Lahore Arts Council. He said LAC could function better without him. He said he was already pre-occupied with Walled City Authority. However, his colleagues at LAC said he was not allowed to do anything on his own accord. He said there were pending permissions from police and the district administration that stalled several of his ideas.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st, 2017.