March 10, 2008	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 1, 1429

ISLAMABAD, March 9: Ajoka Theatre’s Burqavaganza - to cover or not to cover - that hit stage Sunday night challenged mindsets, provoked the audience to rethink and break the chains of prejudice and outdated values.

Organised by Sungi Foundation in connection with the International Women’s Day, the play was a slap on the face of the ultra-conservative minority who wanted to force women to wear the veil.

Starting from the play’s writer and director, Shahid Nadeem’s introduction as a “Drama written at home unlike the drama being played on the political stage these days,” Burqavaganza was a lively and darkly humorous play.

Also titled “Haseena ki Kahani, Khoobroo ki Zubani”, the play was a combination of two young lovers who wanted to spend time together, only to be interrupted and harassed by the ‘moral’ police.

“They try to cover up the inconvenient truth, they have double standards of moral and ethical values.

The politicians say one thing, practice just the opposite, the pious wear white clothes and are dirty from inside. Rulers preach peace and respect for law but are most violent and unlawful when their interests are threatened.

And what about the double standards of the super powers. Their ‘love’ for democracy and progress and their shameful record of imperialist wars and colonisation,” said the play’s director.

This tale of ‘Love in the time of Jihad’ was however told in a lighter vein with humour, song and dance.

In fact, ‘Haseena Ki Kahani’ was an outrageous musical extravaganza. Like all Ajoka plays, it was thoroughly entertaining and at the same time thought-provoking.

Amidst burqa-clad eclectic band of stage actors were the passionate and gently humorous ‘Khoobroo’ played by Raza Abbas and Nosheen Sheikh who played Haseena, making this satire even more delightful.