Artistes accuse officials of ‘harassment’

Involvement of some administration men alleged

DIJKOT:

Some woman stage artists have alleged that some people of the district administration are threatening them of dire consequences.

Wafa Ali, a stage actor, made these allegations before media people at the local press club on Tuesday.

She was flanked during the press conference by stage director Shehbaz Rashid Falak, Sher Aslam Chattha, Rashid Kamal, Muhammad Ilyas, Imad Hussain and some other actors.

Wafa Ali accused two persons, who she claimed to be posted at the assistant commissioner’s office, of threatening her and her colleagues with clamping a ban on them from performing anywhere in the province if, Wafa Ali alleged, “they did not fulfill their illegal wishes”.

“I have confined myself at home out of fear,” said Wafa Ali.

She said that she had been rehearsing at Minerva Theatre on January 20 when some officials of the Censor Board arrived at the theatre to watch the rehearsal.

“They started pressuring me for their illicit desires and started threatening me that they would shoot me in the leg to make me crippled,” alleged Wafa Ali.

Addressing the press conference, stage director Shehbaz Rashid Falak said that they were fed up with working in the “infamous” field of theatre.

“Through this press conference, I demand [of the government] to protect women artists. If disciplinary action is not taken against such government officials, the vulnerability of the artists would increase to the level where they would have nervous breakdowns,” said Falak.

“We are fearing for our lives,” said the stage director.

Meanwhile, an AC office’s official said that they had sent a security official to monitor and film the rehearsal at the Minerva Theatre, but the theatre administration took the official hostage and kept him under siege for two hours. The official said that they went to the theatre to secure the release of their colleague.

“Upon our report, the assistant commissioner got a case registered against three accused. They are currently on interim bail,” said the official.

He accused the artists and the theatre owner of blackmailing the administration to get the criminal case against them quashed.

According to the case, it was stated that an official had gone to a theatre in the city for monitoring and inspection.

When an artist allegedly performed an immoral act during the play, he began filming it with his mobile phone. Meanwhile, the drama producer, his colleagues and four other accused took the phone from him and forbade him from making the video.

The official had told the accused that he was on official business and should not be discriminated against, but they did not listen to him and took him to the office of the theatre owner. They locked him inside after allegedly torturing him.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2023.