54th elections: Arts Council turns over a new leaf

Veteran artists, journalists to contest, says honorary secretary.

KARACHI: Many new candidates will be contesting the 54th annual elections of the Arts Council of Pakistan on Sunday.

The council’s honorary secretary, Ahmed Shah, told The Express Tribune that although there are many new contestants, it does not necessarily mean that the new talent was inexperienced. The contestants belong to different walks of life and are from different age groups.

Athar Waqar Azeem has been serving the council’s member governing body. He also worked at Pakistan Television Corporation for more than four decades. Urdu novelist and playwright Fatima Surraiyya Bajia is the former honorary secretary of the Arts Council and is now contesting for a seat on the governing body.

Journalist Muhammad Ameen Yousuf currently works as the assignment editor at Samaa TV and is also standing for the governing body. Engineer Najmuddin Sheikh, who had lost the elections five years ago but was later elected as a member of the governing body and finance secretary, is now contesting the seat of honorary secretary.

Muhammad Bashir Khan Sadozai, currently working with the City District Government Karachi as a director of media management, is standing for the governing body.

Shah said that membership in the Arts Council was closed between 2004 and 2006 but more than 1,000 people became members after the Sindh High Court allowed it.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2010.