Government approved scripts at Alhamra.

How democratic is that? After making its intentions of controlling content, to whichever degree possible, on print, electronic as well as social media pretty clear, the government is now trying to cast the net even wider and control liberal arts also. Why else would Punjab Information and Culture Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan suddenly sack the entire governing body of the Alhamra Arts Council in Lahore and mandate production companies to seek prior approval of all play scripts to be staged there in future? And, as if just to show the government's seriousness about the matter, all plays scheduled after January 1 have been postponed and organisers duly informed that they would have to deposit Rs100,000 as security fee from now on.

Bank on the campaign trail people were given the impression that PTI, whenever its time comes, would strengthen democratic institutions in the real western tradition. And wasn't it Imran Khan who would do the rounds reminding everybody of how freedom of speech was at the heart of representative democratic government...