Daily Times

Renowned Cholistani folk artist Mohan Bhagat has been harvesting wheat for the past one week.

The coronavirus pandemic and the Punjab Sound Act have caused artists to suffer a lot, and like Mohan Bhagat, many artists have been forced to do the work they had never done before in their lives.

Mohan Bhagat belongs to a very large tribe in Cholistan. He has made the country and nation famous by performing brilliantly in countries including India, Germany, France and the UK.

The Bhagat family has been singing and preserving Cholistani songs for hundreds of years, and the family is known to the great singers of saints, among them Khawaja Farid.

Mohan Bhagat told Daily Times that for the past several days there had been nothing to eat in his house and his children were starving. The government’s Sound Act ban and the coronavirus epidemic have brought financial troubles for them. He said they were hungry in their house and they demanded the government announce a special package for the artists.

Senior folk artist Jamil Prwana said that the Sound Act and corona epidemic have caused a lot of economic problems for the artists, and the miseries would multiply in the upcoming month of Ramazan.

Khalil Bukhari, president and renowned scholar of Bazm Farid, said that Pakistan’s negligence with regard to artists was extremely hurtful and shocking. He said that since the artists’ livelihood was related to singing and performing, their avenues for earning have been closed first because of the Sound Act and now due to the lockdown enforcement in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. He added that artists were a valuable asset of the society, so the government should immediately give artist a relief package so that they can avoid starvation.

Prestigious award-winning poet and author Jahangir Mukhls said that in this difficult time, the government should not leave its artists alone. “Artists are our national asset today. The artists are starving and the government remains a silent spectator.” He said that the government should announce a relief package for artists, poets and writers so that the middle class and the poor do not have to ask for alms.

Renowned author, researcher and chief organizer of the Faqira Bhagat Forum, Mazhar Saeed Gopang said that the artists were suffering from severe financial difficulties due to the current coronavirus epidemic.

The disease has locked people in homes, and because of unemployment and economic miseries, artists are in severe mental distress. The government should give special package to the artists and provide jobs to their children so that they can survive the economic crisis.