The controversial image of the Shanaakht Festival has been taken down from this post due to repeated insistence of the organizers as they continue to receive threats from various sources, so in light of the seriousness of the issue I must condemn these instigators but take down these images for the sake of public safety. I pray that the entire team of organizers come out of this crisis and rejuvenate Pakistan all over again
Yesterday a group of Peoples Student Federation ransacked the Shanakht Festival at the Art Council over an image of Benazir Bhutto sitting on lap of Zia-ul-Haq.
Looking at the picture I was appalled at the audacity of the artist to have photoshopped such an image practically insulting the political leaders in the picture not to account for the emotions of the people attached to them. In my opinion it is akin to a political blasphemy, granted there could be some artistic license, but one would be a tad bit careful in displaying nudity in Pakistan merely for the sake that it may irk some emotional reactions. I believe this image was in bad taste but at the same time I must also condemn the ransacking and believe this issue could have be sorted amicable and peacefully.
Having digested the events of yesterday – the Shanakht festival is back on schedule — without the image!!
UPDATE: This image has been taken from a Facebook group that was objecting to the ransacking of the Shanakht Festival by PSF – Pressure has been coming from many sources asking us to take this image off “so that the government can allow the festival to continue”, but my position is that I find this image utterly objectionable – I hold the organizers of Shanakht, the artist group which collected these images and definitely the artist who photoshopped it in the first place responsible for a major blunder. The image was on display the entire day yesterday and was bound to be made public sooner or later and it was bound to spark a full blown controversy even later. This is my peaceful way of registering a protest, taking the image offline [as requested by many people] will definitely not be a solution
Comments
104 responses to “The image that led to the ransacking of the Shanakht Festival”
i dont even mind ZABs picture with ayub khan but BB's picture is absolutely disgusting. this is the man responsible for her suffering.what is the artist trying to promote here ? this is absolutely uncalled for.
note that its all photoshopped.
not ziaul haq, its a woman in shalwar qameez,
its not benazir, its not zab, its not yahya
i dont know who is behind the yahya-headed figure ?
in fact its a family portrait
who said politics was neat and clean.
nice statement. beware of politicians !
this is really uncalled for…
the guy who made this must have had a death wish or something….
if it was Nawaz Sharif in Zia's lap then that could make some sense. But BB, ahan .. senseless.. the artist wanted to show what most us think about military and politicians love affair but there are other good ways to show it … This is not our "shanakht" … the artist wanted to depict his art as some kind of middleaged nude art form, dull colours and tones. You may show nude art in paris or london but this is not acceptable in our society …
But I agree with artist on one thing… we have to educate people against the ills of our society but in a sensible manner.
What a true picture of Pakistan Politics.I do not see any vulgarity in it.It is very true picture of Pakistan.
Disturbing but this is how Pakistan political history is.
I find sarcasm,boldness,irony ,redicule ,anger almost evrything in this very daring and challenging picture.
This is a portrait of our politics.
For the artist:It is the master piece ,I like the faces you have chosen.
I see the point of similarity ,they were all hypocrates.
Keep disturbing the nation.
Awab
I am glad you were disturbed to see this.This is what Pakistani nation needs a good shake up,behind the nice masks and facades.
This disturbance is positive something constructive will come out of it.Expression and art is a chain reaction.
I am borrowing the image for the face book.I hope I am allowed.I am thrilled and excited about it.If you ask me this is the biggest statement and master piece .Yes Revolution and transformation of nation is in the air.
We do not accept the given any more.
What the hell is wrong with you people?
This is called political protest – he can put any politician in lap of any other..
Whether this makes sense politically or not is a totally different issue
I fully support this guy's right to exhibit this painting
interesting,
maybe the artist is trying to show that ayub brought butto, zia paved the way for bb, since the girl with bb fact is sitting in the lap of another woman like daughters sit with mothers and this one has zia' face. anyway, there is no nudity, it doesnt seem to be disrespecting a leading figure of any belief system of religion, it is not blaming someone for something. why is this objectionable is beyond me. what is more unacceptable to most patriotic pakistanis is when pitures of butto or bb are placed on govt building walls adjacent to people like quaid-e-azam or allama iqbal. that is sick and disrespectful towards the great leaders and founding fathers to be compared with these people who never followed the ideology of pakistan, bhutto was more socialist and his daughter was capitalist. lets not talk about their corruptions and damages to paksitan as those are highly debatable and there are few facts to support either opinion.
@Farrah:
Your notion of disturbing the nation is something I partially agree with.
However, perhaps you might agree that there are millions of better ways of waking up our nation from its slumber, and indecency and offensive art in the form of putting BB in Zia's lap is not a good way at all (especially keeping in mind the tolerance level, openness, attitudes of our people, and the social norms of Pakistan etc).
In fact if a picture results in the closing down of a festival as brilliant as Shanakht, it is actually the worst tool for disturbing the nation.
What a pity.
i guess the organizers were high on speed or some other thing. It is a big deal coz there are old wounds which have not healed as yet. The artist is either dumb or has a death wish to go ahead with such a thing. The image is not at all politically correct as it ends up offending everyone. Art is basically expression but then we know that people are always trigger happy in Pakistan and this picture provided them with the right opportunity.
@sami!
1)she was not just a politician but also she was a women and beloved slain leader.it is against the dignity of a woman to be portrayed like this.it is inflammable and i can understand the anger of PSF.
2) even if you consider her just the politician nothing else,even then this portray is not right.she fought against zia ul haq.she suffered an irreparable loss by the zia ul haq.how one can make her sitting on the lap of zia ul haq.
@dr.jawwadkhan
and that gives a bunch of hooligans the right to trash the place and the government to use pressure to remove the picture from its display?
I guess I agree with both sides. Freedom of thought and speech should be the utter priority. So yes, the artist was in his right to make such a picture. More than anything, he was trying to prove some sort of relation between Pakistani leaders all who have faced tragic deaths. So freedom of speech needs to be respected.
But in this current day and age, where yahoos show their feelings not through words but through bullets and dandas, I guess the organizers should not have let this picture be put up.
But hey in retrospect…vision is always 20/20. so no one could have predicted such an outlash.
After all, the government is there. Who are we, the silent majority to say anything???
@sami!
freedom with out boundries is a perfect recipe of unnecessary conflicts.this is the most disgusting fashion came from the west.in the name of freedom of expression they want to cross every limit.
i didn't find the aggravated reaction from the PSF.as few commentrator asked whether the artist had a death wish.it means that reaction could be more harmful than the ransacking.
I agree that taking the image off this page is not the solution.
The artist had the right to speak his/her mind through this picture. And so did the protesters to express their feelings that they sure did. The organizers and the artist should have been ready for such a reaction with their plan-B.
Better management next time maybe…of public emotions.
Shame on You.
Il Litreate people!
This is simply disgusting to say the least. May be we need to reiterate our values to those who have forgotten it. Women are to be respected!
Benazir, apart from being a slain leader and ex-PM of our beloved country, was the 'identity' of women in our part of the world. She is the 'shanaakht' of woman of Pakistan, of the subcontinent and of the world at large.
By showing a woman, who is respected and adored so much, regardless of her political affiliations, sitting in a lap of another man … is utterly disrespectful and disregards the values we (used to) have!
Benazir and Zia image is perfect ,in symbolic terms it means Dictatorship and Democracy have no difference .
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It is not about the personalities or sexes of people.This picture is about what they stood for.
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People who cannot appreciate art and Satire are definitely retarded.
Artists are supposed to be sensitive and cultured but this one does not seem to be so. i guess he is just having a laugh but seriously this image is horrendous. There is a thing called respect for the dead if not for the living. morover the image is an insult no matter what political ideologies our leaders followed in the past.
This picture must be put on the display.
By the way to NARROW MINDED IDIOTS:
if a woman can be held by two men and beaten by a third in a crowd of hundreds why a picture of Benazir cannot appear with Zia ,it is not scandaleous.
As if this never happened before ,thousands of book titles contain there pictures together .I mean…..What are we protesting against???
Why do we respect our leaders?
Do they deserve it ,I mean for what should we respect them?
They died ,is it a big deal
We die in the same way everyday in the streets?
Who respects us?
Are we dogs and they gods.
Comeon people no one is sacred.Of course Quran and Prophet (PBUH) is exception).
i find it uncalled for as well.
@farrah k raja!
are you attacking on me?hahahahahah.i didn't mind that.
first no one approved the way those guys handled that flogging (now the evidence is coming that the whole video was the fake).i just said that hudoodullah should not be condemned.
second there is a big difference between these issue because one is related to the religion.a religion which demands the complete and unconditional submission.while the
other issue is claimed to be related with art.which tends to resists the restrictions.you can ask the question and you can ask for the explanation.
third as a "retarded" person i want to know what kind of art is this?
you picked a photograph removed the heads and pasted the heads of the others.where is the sensitivity,decency and exquisiteness we used to see in the art we know and rightly pointed out by @amber.
This is some piece of work. Actually quite creative. First of all, note that everybody in the pic is dead now! BB sitting on Zia's lap signifies how she made use of her father's death, which was in fact something that Zia did. BB was BB because ZAB got hanged!
50 years from now, the sequel to this one should show Bilawal sitting on Zardari's lap !
@ amber
please don't place politicians and prophets on the same pedestal.
Dr Jawwad
get over your inferiority complex without involving me.Please.
Le Mystique
The point is made by the artist and that point is,Political scene of Pakistan despite all the termoil ,terbulance and struggle for Democracy and Martial Law remains thesame.
Is nt it true all the people in the picture came and go but our plight ,our misery remained the same.
They say a picture is worth thousand words.
I say ;
"THIS PICTURE IS WORTH THOUSAND BOOKS WRITTEN ON PAKISTAN POLITICS AND ANALYSIS DONE"
only if people stop applying the dogmatic approach and again protecting the personalities and putting a person before common good of people ,this is a mature expression comming out of Pakistan.
It must not be curbed instead be proud that we are confident to question them.
personally I see the black and white painted there we have exploited long enough going in circles after the slogans of Democracy and Martial Law………….nothing was for us.
Everything was for them.
to the artist
Do not be dis heartened ,your art work is simply too big and challeging for cockroaches.
Alvi Sahab,
The old PPP of Zulfi Bhutto was even worse. Do we even remember as to how Noted and very Respected Leader Mairaj Mohammad Khan [Former PPP Minister and Former Tehreek-e-Insaf Leader] lost his one eye due to the Torture by police during the government of Late. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Founder Leader of PPP J A Rahim and his son, both were sodoemized in Police Custody and both were sodomized in front of each other.
I have severe Ideological difference with Mawlana Mawdudi and Jamat-e-Islami but Former JI Ameer Mian Tufial [General Zia was his maternal son-in-law] was also sodomized in Police Custody. These details are available in the newspapers published after the Departure of Zuflikar Ali Bhutto’s Government.
I wonder why do the present PPP leader raise hue and cry on Freedom of Expression in view of their track record above.
During General Zia’s Martial Law, paintings of Famous and a very excellent Artist Mr A R Nagori were banned and not only that General Zia’s Military Regime financially murdered him by putting Nagori under house arrest for Three Long years.
Paintings and Art Galleries of Famous Pakistani Artists like Sadequain and Colin David were butrned to ashes during General Zia’s Martial Law.
Pakistan Zindabad and Islam Zindabad as well…[PPP also served Islami Shariah – no picture of any living Human is Allowed throw away Jinnah’s picture from every Government Office]
@farrah k raja!
it is a superiority complex.
"Do not be dis heartened ,your art work is simply too big and challeging for cockroaches"
can we compare this "work" with michael anjelo,pablo picasso or rambrandt van rijin?
why would u compare his work with any of those! its like comparing imam-deen with ghalib! don't get excited, its just an example 🙂
on a serious note, even if this is ridicule; why don't you curse GEO for 'hum sabb umeed sey hain'? The only apparent reason is that all the characters in that show are alive! so does death purifies you of all the sins that you have done? can't we question anybody for his/her motives after they die? abu-jehal was a political leader of his time but he still is abu-jehal! if we follow this approac ( "murda-parasti") we should respect him too!
who made the MQM?
Uncle Zia Rehmat Ullah Aleh
dr Jawwad
So you agree ,there is some sort of complex
what the big deal….it is a photoshopped picture….the artist had every right to display that picture….it was his expression and there is no way the ransacking of the festival is justified
The photo may be in bad taste, but frankly speaking, as a society we are very intolerant of political satire. Although I'm not fond the picture, I think the artist has the right to make any sort of artwork as he/she pleases.
Political parties, from the JI to the MQM, need to become more mature and capable of dealing with criticism.
farrah!
no.i am a very humble and down to earth person.but i do not challange the opinions of others about me.i couldn't understand living so many years in england and inclination for dictatorship? don't you think that you closed at least one door of your mind.
the modernization of ideas should be adopted rather than the modernization of the culture.don't you agree with that?
agreed except sodomized and sadiquain part.
Dr Jawwad
Kindly read through all my posts where do you find me addressing you at any point.
No I am not a shy person at all if I have to confront people I do address them directly and bluntly.
You have your views that is fine.Difference of openion is a right and I respect that.Maybe I was rude above but I am human only.
Life is too short to carry on grudges and particularly intellectual grudge ,religious or political is bad for my skin so I forget and forgive before I sleep 🙂
agreed except sodomized and sadiquain part. [Dr Jawwad Khan]
Dear Jawwad Sahab,
I had quoted Sodomized part from the White Paper which JI leader used to recite against Bhutto. Regarding Colin David and Sadequain Pitures chek the old newspapers if not on net then go the library and check there.
agreed except sodomized and sadiquain part. [Dr Jawwad Khan]
======================
Dear Jawwad Sahab,
On your Dear Friend Hussain Haqqani The Former Pupil of Mawdudi and Now a Rafizi [as per Khadim Hussain]. It has been already published in Teeth Maestro
"QUOTE"
With brainwashing on the one hand and erosion of academic freedom on the other, the campuses (once temples of learning and enlightenment) have been turned into centres of rowdyism and repositories of deadly weapon. Students belonging to various schools of religious thought, regional and ethnic groups, particularly the Islami Jamiat-e-Tulba (the student wing of Jamat-e-Islami) , have played havoc with educational institutions. Professors were another target of the victimization carried out in this period. Members of the IJT launched a concerted campaign against professors known for their liberal views. In Punjab University, particularly, many professors were forced to resign, others were sacked.
The situation was no different in the Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, which had in the 70s attracted many brilliant Pakistanis who were teaching abroad. As the harassment became unbearable, most of these professors went back. To what extent fundamentalists blocked scientific knowledge can be assessed by one incident at the Karachi University, where a zoology lecturer was stopped from teaching Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Similar incidents occurred frequently in the philosophy and the economics department. The situation has worsened wit the passage of time. During that period, a policy of appeasement towards the IJT made matter worse. Guns boomed at the Karachi University Campus for the first time in 1979 when, according to Imran Shirvanee, Raja Javed, a supporter of IJT, used a sten gun ‘to tackle the opposition.’ When the pen and free expression are throttled, the only means open to tackle opposition is a firearm. At that time, the IJT was the ruling party in Karachi University politics with Hussain Haqqani, Raja Javed was his close aide.
Haqqani is a man of many roles. The former Far Eastern Economic Review correspondent was the media advisor to Punjab Chief Minister Nawaz Sharif when Benazir Bhutto was at the centre {1988-1990}. He switched to serve caretaker Prime Minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi in 1990, and then switched back again to serve Sharif when he was elected Prime Minister. In 1992, he was sent to Sri Lanka as Pakistan’s High Commissioner. On the eve of Nawaz Sharif’s dismissal on 18 April 1993, he jumped the sinking ship and joined President Ghulam Ishaq Khan bandwagon. Immediately, he was rewarded by being made a special assistant to the caretaker Prime Minister Mir Balakh Sher Mazari with the rank of Minister of State. Asked by BBC if he now deserved a mention in the Guinness Book of Records for switching loyalties so often, his reply was classic: I was always with the President.’”
The Web of Censorship by late. Zamir Niazi published by Oxford University Press.
"UNQUOTE"
Mr Haqqani. Right from this student politics with the Jamaat's student wing, the dreaded Islami Jamiat-e-Tulaba, at Karachi University there is much that Mr Haqqani is answerable for. The violence at the university and the brutal suppression of free speech that the IJT imposed on the campus in those days was done with Mr Haqqani very much an active player. Many still say that he was the architect of the IJT's policy of using brute force to suppress opposition opinion. We next saw him on PTV – which was a kind of a launching pad for him -during the 1985 partyless elections. It was an election which destroyed Pakistan's politics in more ways than one and much that we see wrong with Pakistan's politics today dates back to that election. It was because of the destructive potential of the election that every liberal and progressive party in the country boycotted those elections. Yet there was Mr Haqqani at his most articulate, lauding the farcical exercise as if it was the best thing that had happened to the country since its birth.
pheeeeew! are we done?
ain allows free speech.
This is simply disgusting
well there is nothing wrong, politicians deserve it 🙂
one question :
just ask ur self what good they have done for ur homeland ??
2nd thing is : DEMOCRASY SO HE CAN SHOW WHT HE WANTS 🙂
I don't agree with this picture. I think instead of Zia, it should have been Pervez Musharraf's picture, with Bush giving the blessings to the couple.
Lol….
I read in the newspaper, some bloach ethnic politicians were murdered and there are protests going on. I'm not happy at the murder. But at the same time these people have been doing ethnic cleansing in Baluchistan for a while.
I feel sorry for the people who invested in Gawadara. The speculators who got out during Mush timer were better off.
does anyone know who's at the back to the right?
If I am not wrong the man back to the right could be Judeg [please watch the Robe]
Utterly disgusting!
How could the organizers of the event even allow it to be displayed? They had this totally coming to them, not that I'm in favour of such violence.
*sigh*
I still believe that the ghost artist had the right to copying, pasting, framing and signing and the dis-organisers to do what they did.
I think the core aspect of this debate is that "some insensitive artist or not, carelessly touched upon the public emotions, ignoring all cultural perceptions; most probably a ABCD or wanna be ABCD or an attention-craving-desperate-new- comer wanting to get some name out in the market. Well sure did; what's the name by the way :-))
The amazing event managers seemingly and now re-assuringly had no prior experience of managing open events with a diverse attendance. Or they were holidaying in the West while our society was undergoing tremendous emotional, social, security and economic pressures. Totally disconnected!
I think the venue for this ..eerr..work of some sort should have been "dream-land" or something with pre-thought imaginary public who would think the same way as the ghost behind the photo.
What was the name again :-))