On Thursday 20th October 2016 the Zahoor ul Akhlaq Gallery at National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore, held a unique exhibition of works titled “Peace Murals of Artlords, Afghanistan.” The exhibition was a peace initiative between civil society organizations – Artlords and Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) – in joint partnership for this Pakistan-Afghanistan civil society initiative.
Mr. Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, Minister of Education, Government of Punjab inaugurated the exhibition and was the chief guest. The Minister applauded the efforts of both the civil society organizations to have taken such a unique initiative to promote people-to-people contact. He said Lahore is the cultural hub of Pakistan, and has always taken a lead in promoting art and culture. Mashhood thanked CRSS, and Artlords, as well as the National College of Arts, and the Jang Media Group for partnering together to give the students and faculty of NCA and other art lovers of Lahore the opportunity to promote culture, liberal arts and peace building measures between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was all praise for the work of the Afghan artists and noted that such artworks depict the message of peace, love, and harmony and also is a strong portrayal of unique and meaningful message against terrorism, war, arms, drugs and warlods, through their artworks. He emphasized the importance of using art and culture to foster peace and brotherhood.
Artlords was established in 2014 by its founder, Mr. Omaid Sharifi and consists of artists and volunteers motivated by the desire to bring about a positive social change through the soft power of art and culture as a non-intrusive approach. Mr. Sharifi invited and led the Minster to show reproductive artworks displayed at the gallery, explaining the message of peace and against terrorism behind each artwork.
Reproductions of murals executed by artists and volunteers belonging to Artlords lined the walls of the Gallery. A video documentary was also played on projector media screen documenting and highlighting their efforts as they worked on these murals at various sites. Mr. Sharifi informed Minister Mashhood that so far they have painted seventy large peace murals in the streets of Afghanistan in provinces of Kabul, Herat, and Kandahar. He further said that these wall murals had been executed over a period of two years in and around important sites in Afghanistan in order to emphasize the need to establish peace in the region.
Bold, graphic and inspired by other activist/artists such as Banksy, the optimistic spirit behind this public art initiative was evident as students and viewers thronged the exhibition and responded positively to the works on display. More than 200 students and some faculty members of NCA attended the exhibition, besides other guests invited from Lahore.
The exhibition of Artlords artworks, which displayed small size oil on canvas paintings of some of the seventy peace murals that they have done in Afghanistan was a Pakistan- Afghanistan civil society initiative, undertaken by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), an independent think-tank based in Islamabad. It was aimed at building and promoting civil society and people-to-people contact between the two brotherly countries.
This civil society partnership between the CRSS and Artlords emerged as a result of the CRSS Pak-Afghan track 1.5/2 project Beyond Boundaries, as part of its efforts to improve bilateral relations between the two countries.
Mr. Aized Ali, Project Director Beyond Boundaries represented the CRSS, and said such continued endeavors help promoting and fostering people to people contacts and will enhance and increase cultural exchanges between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He briefed the Minister about CRSS track II project Beyond Boundaries which comprised two working groups: Regional Security Group, Civil Society Group; and successfully held six meetings of these working groups between November, 2015 and March, 2016, three each in Islamabad and Kabul. These working groups included members of civil society, academia, members of parliaments, ex-government/security officials, and senior media persons. The two groups through these consultative workshops addressed varied themes important for promoting peace, and more importantly formulated policy recommendations form the six meetings, which were shared with both the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan at the highest levels.
The founder of Artlords, Mr. Omaid Sharifi was a part of this initiative and participated as a distinguished member of the civil society group in three meetings.
This track II initiative is continuing into its second phase, whereby holding six meetings again between the newly formulated Pakistan Afghanistan Joint Committee (PAJC), a smaller group of five to seven members comprising civil society and security experts from the two countries, and will expand to other cities: Lahore, Herat, Karachi, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kabul, and Islamabad. The first meeting was held in Lahore on 19 – 20 October, 2016. The exhibition was planned to coincide with this track II dialogue to promote civil society partnership between the two countries.
Article contributed by Aized Ali, Project Director, CRSS .