LARKANA: A reformist play Mitti (soil) written and directed by renowned writer Ali Roshan Sheikh was staged at the Larkana Arts Council as the 10-day Sindh Theatre Festival got underway on Friday evening in the council’s open air theatre, which was packed to its capacity.
Artists, includingSattar Larr alias Majoo, Reema Naz, Aashig Dayo and others displayed their acting prowess, earning enthusiastic applause and appreciation from the audience.
The play focused on the oppression by feudal landlords in rural areas. It depicted how village landlords unjustly seize villagers’ lands and subject them to various forms of oppression, and how, when villagers resist such tyr-anny, these feudal lords resort to intimidation under a culture of banditry to threaten them.
The festival has been organised by the Larkana Arts Council in collaboration with the Karachi Arts Council, whose President Mohammed Ahmed Shah was due to inaugurate it.
Since he could not turn up due to his preoccupation, the festival was inaugurated by Larkana District Council Chairman and chief guest Aijaz Ahmed Leghari, who is also PPP’s district general secretary.
He cut the ribbon along with PTV Managing Director and a member ofthe Karachi Arts Council Syed Amjad Shah, renowned writer and poet Dr Ayub Sheikh, and office-bearers of the Larkana Arts Council, including its President Mohammad Ismail Jatoi, Secretary Mohammad Hanif Sohag, Treasurer Abdul Nabi Sario, Syed Javed Shah, Nadeem Akhtar Soomro, Naseer Mohammad Khuhawar and others.
Speaking at the ceremony, Syed Amjad Shah said that supporting artists in every possible way was a noble endeavour, adding that they took pride beingin the land ofSindh.
Aijaz Leghari said that they would continue to provide every possible assistance to deserving artists of the Larkana Arts Council.
He said that this institution, established by the PPP leadership, was no less than a gift, and that they would continue supporting artists to the best of their ability.
Dr Ayub Sheikh, who heads the ‘Folk Heritage’ department of the Karachi Arts Council, said that Sindh has a population of 60 million of which 30 million were women, who remained confined totheir homes. ‘That’s why, Pakistan has only achieved half of its potential development,’ he observed, and stressed the need for free womenfolk from these ‘domestic prisons’. He said it was, therefore, essentialfor parents to send their daughters to educational institutions so that society could emerge from the darkness of ignorance.
Dr Sheikh said that when a woman is educated, it brings improvement within the household. ‘It is only through the spread of education that the country can truly progress,’ he added.