Adil Najam
This picture is carried today by both Dawn and Daily Times. Dawn’s title is “Still Heroes” and the caption reads: “Bronze statues of Quaid-i-Azam, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Allama Iqbal put on display at the Science and Technology Expo-2007 being held at National Memorial Museum in Shakarparian in Islamabad.”
A visit to the Museum is on the top of my ‘To Do’ list when I return to Islamabad end of the month. I hope they are still there.
My first thought on looking at the picture was to note how both Jinnah and Iqbal are wearing suits here (this penchant of ours – me included – to dress up these guys in the garbs of our desires has been has been quite a remarkable historical see-saw!). My second thought was to wonder what the folks at Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa might have to say – or do – about this. I hope there is significant security against vandalism here.
But even more than that, I wonder what these three men are sitting there thinking about what is happening today in the country they helped conceive. Late at night when the museum is closed and the statues come alive and walk about, what is it that they sit together and talk about?
To my knowledge these three statues are the first ‘public’ attempt of this kind. From purley aesthetic sense, these bronze figures do not look too bad. Art and architecture are cultural reflections of a nation. While Pakistan has produced some very fine artists and many Pakistanis have collected their work, the general public is still not aware of their fine work. That is where the museums and easy access to them comes in. There is need of good quality museums in every city of Pakistan that could house and display the works of Pakistani and international artists. Art and appreciation of it must be a part of our education. Nations without art have no soul.
They dont talk nothing man..they are just statues
Libertarian,
You are right.
-YLH
Art and aesthetics are never a waste of money…
States, ideologies and civilisations don’t last forever… but what the leave behind gives us a good measure of their role in history…
People who have a problem with building monuments etc should go visit the remarkable Greek-Gandhara ruins in Taxila … barely 30 minutes from Islamabad…
Ahmed,
Please don’t take it personally but I would like to correct Iqbal’s verse.
“Tu Shaheen hai basera kar paharon ki chatano mei”
The poem goes like
“Ouqabi rooh jab bedaar hoti hai jawano mei
Nazar aati hai un ko apni manzil aasmano mei
Nahi tera nashaiman qasr-e-sultani ke gumbad par
Tu shaheen hai basera kar paharo ki chaton mei”