With the view of preservation and promotion of the Kashmiri Art and Theatre sector, the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry today held an interaction with artists and stakeholders.
According to statement, the meeting was chaired by Nasir Hamid Khan, Senior Vice President, KCC&I and Sheikh Gowhar Ali, Joint Secretary General and Manzoor Ahmad Pakhtoon, Treasurer. The participants included Mushtaq Ali Khan, Saleem Beigh, Mushtaq Bala, Sheikh Haneef, Nazeer Josh, Gulzar Ganai, Rasheed Haafiz, Waheed Jeelani, Gul Javaid, Shafi Khan, Gulzar Ahmad Bhat, Shahe Jahan, Hassan Javaid, Gulzar Ahmad Mir and Abdul Gaffar Dar Kanihami.
The KCCI said in the statement that the local art was slowly dying and no serious effort was being made to promote the talent available.
“The Government is in the process of finalisation of the J&K Film Policy 2020 for which it was important to incorporate genuine requirements of Kashmir film and theatre industry.”
“Concern was expressed at the fact that despite sufficient budgets and guidelines for providing work to registered artists, vested interests had deprived the genuine stakeholders of majority of the business. Having invested their whole lives and whatever capital they had towards the promotion of their respective arts, the artists were facing hard times. A majority of their capital was stuck in payments pending with the Doordarshan authorities since more than a decade.”
The stakeholders said the artists belonging to various streams of art and culture like Theatre Artists, TV Actors, Radio Artistes, Folk Threatre (Bhande Paether), Folk Music, Light Classical Music, Film Makers and other allied sub-sectors who have been under tremendous stress were totally ignored while announcing various relief and rehabilitation packages by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir as well as the Union Government.