LAHORE, Jan 15: A young entrepreneur has given a whole new meaning to the phrase “wearing emotions on your sleeve” by launching a line of T-shirts bearing political messages, now on sale in Lahore.

With amusing caricatures and catchy slogans, the T-shirts are proving to be a hit among the city’s politically active students, and the makers hope that other active citizens will follow suit.

“I bought the shirt because it’s funny and it carries a serious message at the same time,” said a LUMS student on Tuesday, whose T-shirt design showed a cartoon of lawyer being beaten up and the words, “Kala Kot Pao, Sir Tey Dandey Khao”.

Other examples of slogans include “Politicians and Diapers often need to be changed…for the same reason” and a gravestone with the epitaph “Democracy, 27 December”.

Hasaan Khawar, the 31-year-old creator of the T-shirts, explained: “Everybody was feeling very sentimental about the recent turn of events: the detention of the chief justice, emergency, army rule, media curbs. Not everybody can block a road and protest so this gives people a chance to show the world what they believe in,” he added.

Khawar, who runs his own consultancy company, says he became politically aware when he was working for the government as a civil servant.

The inspiration for his current brainchild comes from a similar fashion range he came across while studying in the United States, called the Jewish Fashion Conspiracy, which also sells political and satirical garments and is targeted mostly at college students.

As for the ideas for the T-shirts, Khawar explained that he generates some while others come from his 10-member team.

The T-shirts have initially gone on sale inside some of Lahore’s universities and some stores in Defence, and retail at Rs395 each.

Khawar says he hopes to expand the range by bringing in creative input from students, as well, while the next step is to market the T-shirts in Karachi and Islamabad. In addition, Khawar is marketing his wears on a Facebook group called ‘Political – Dare to Wear’.

Commenting on the news, social pundit Rasul Bakhsh Raees said: “It’s great entrepreneurial spirit - how he’s sensed the public mood and he’s making money at the same time.”

Terming the idea an “innovative and sophisticated” form of resistance to the Musharraf regime, Raees sounded a note of caution. “I hope he’s not put behind bars, because the establishment is familiar with all forms of coercion.”