Punjab University: Security concerns force PU to keep music at arm’s length

Usama Naseer of IJT says organisation averse to music classes.

LAHORE:

Punjab University (PU) has not been able to conduct classes of its masters in music programme at the varsity due to security concerns since nine years.

The classes have been held in the basement of Alhamra on The Mall following the introduction of the programme in 2006. The Punjab Arts Council had recently asked the university to vacate the space. The varsity administration has however been able to persuade the council to permit the continuation of classes for the time being.



A graduate of the programme told The Express Tribune that students from the inaugural batch had been told that classes would be shifted to the PU’s Old Campus in six months. He said years had gone by but there had been no headway on this account. “The varsity started the programme but it has yet to own it,” he said. The alumnus said students had been told that the Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) was averse to the idea.

A visiting faculty member, a recipient of the Pride of Performance award, said the organisation associated music with vulgarity. The artist said the IJT had coined the term darul kufr (The abode of disbelief) for the Art and Design Department. He said the varsity should have taken a more stringent stance and ensured that music classes were conducted at the university.

University College of Art and Design Assistant Professor Israr Hussain Chishti said the administration was trying to ensure that the classes continued at Alhamra. He said talks were under way in this regard. “We have not been able to hold classes at the varsity due to security concerns. The IJT is not the problem. There are other threats,” he said.  Chishti said the fact that the environment at Alhamra was not conducive to learning compounded the challenges confronting the varsity.

University College of Art and Design Principal Shahida Manzoor said holding classes at the varsity posed a security risk. “I am not privy to the origin of the threats. We have not shifted the classes to the varsity due to security concerns,” she said.

PU IJT Nazim Usama Naseer said in accordance with the tenets of Islam the organisation was averse to music. “We are against music and have the right to register our protest within the confines of the law in this regard,” he said. Naseer categorically rejected allegations that the IJT had threatened the varsity administration or students over the shifting of classes.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2015.