Pictures speak volumes: Art highlights war prisoners' plight

A group of young artists from the Faculty of Fine Arts claim to have come up with the first exhibition on the 54 Indian soldiers who fought in the 1971 war against Pakistan and are now in Pakistan as prisoners.

The artists said their effort is to bring the issue to notice of public and the Indian government so that they can do something for the prisoners. "The lost ground prisoners of war" which is the subject of the section of the on going exhibition on "Bhartiyatva - Faded Patriotism" at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Maharaja Sayajirao University. The team comprises S. R. Sunil Kumar, Snehal Rana, Rajbir Singh, Vinod Sharma, Nitin Chavan and former student George Vipin.

Speaking to the media Sunil, a final year applied arts student said the issue of prisoners of war is very important for the relatives of the PoW. He said, "We had a little time to decide a subject for the exhibition. But two of our team members came up with this problem as a subject which has not been solved for over more than 30 years." The students started exploring the subject and gathered as much information as they could manage and they even surfed the net to get some crucial information like the list of prisoners.

The artists then applied their artistic skills to convert this burning issue into cards, posters and calenders. George Vipin who has worked on the subject said, "We went across a wide spectrum of materials regarding the sensitive issue and now we are more informed about the issue and the curse to be a PoW in the Pakistan custody. From the sea of information like the Geneva Convention, treaties, articles, reports, opinions and remarks we tried to compile the best selective information highlighting the plight of our PoW, the struggle undertaken for their release."

The group however has no plans to paint the issue in political colours. Sunil Kumar siad, "Though we want to convert this exhibition into a major movement. Our intention is not to plunge into politics but we want to create an awareness campaign about this true life story of bravery."

The students have also released a 90-page brochure The Lost Ground - Prisoners of War, which includes some of the crucial information about the PoW and India-Pakistan wars and relations betweeen the two countries.

Republished from The Asian Age