WHEN GOVERNMENTS OF PAKISTAN WERE CONCERNED ABOUT ARTISTS
BIZARRE STORY OF PENSION GIVEN BY TWO PRIME MINISTERS PAKISTAN

The story of partition is about the worthy becoming poor and the corrupt ready to file notorious claims. Financial throwback was there for M.A. Rahman Chughtai and he rendered meritorious services for the Government of Pakistan, like designing flags, insignias, mausoleums, postal stamps, icons for organizations, coins, and gifts for foreign Heads of State, etc etc. In various interactions with Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, financial help for publication of the book on Dr Iqbal was under discussion.  But the assassination of the PM on 16th October, 1951 upset all schedules. An editorial appeared in Daily Imroze about the same, which we enclose as rare thing. At this time another lover of Chughtai Art, Khawaja Nazim-uddin was the Prime Minister. He did not stop proceedings on same.

An editorial appeared in the newspaper IMROZE about the financial condition of artist M.A. Rahman Chughtai.  Strangely Nawab Liaquat Ali Khan was fully familiar with the artist, as well as Khawaja Nazimuddin. On instructions from Quaid e Azam, the artist had submitted many designs, which included the flag of Pakistan, insignias for the Government of Pakistan, Postal stamps, and what not? All this meritorious service was free of any charges. To put the country on the art map of the world was the aim here. The designs were appreciated by Quaid e Azam and some were used for same. The Postal Stamps won award in the world, as the most beautiful stamps of the world. The foundation of Pakistan’s first Art Council Alhamra was due to him. The show art Alhamra in 1949 won international laurels as the diplomatic community flew from Karachi to attend the same here. Chughtai was offered visit lectures from both USA and USSR. Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan presented Chughtai’s art works to President Truman in USA as well as to the National Art Gallery in Canada (still there). But the artist was not in good financial condition.

An idea was to award a monthly stipend to the artist. The proposal was read by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan and he seconded it. But before he could initiate it, he was assassinated in Rawalpindi. It was then picked up by Prime Minister Khawaja Nazimuddin and in January, 1953, it was approved as a pension for Rs 500 per month. It was to start from 1st July, 1953. It went on till 1975, and the last one was picked up in January, 1975. The shame was that Rs 500 was a lot of amounts in 1953, but it was not a lot of amounts in 1975. It was the habit of the artist to pick up his finances after three months, every time, in form of Rs 1500.

The news of the pension was reported locally but also in foreign press. For instance, the Lethbridge Herald, 6th November 1953, carried the news internationally.

On 1st January, 1975, I drove him to the State Bank of Pakistan. The realization never came that would be his last pension. Actually 16 days after the same, M.A. Rahman Chughtai died at home in the evening. An era had come to an end.

P.S.

The pension report came in international newspapers too. For example, Lethbridge Herald reported same on 6^th November, 1953.