Business as usual

Published June 17, 2016
The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.
The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

THERE was a time when newspapers pretended to be different in Ramazan or were actually compelled by the lack of politics during the holy month to find offbeat sources to fill their pages. This necessity would help the papers to flash-focus on some areas of life which used to be at other times consigned to the obscurity of the inside pages.

The revelation that there were other things to be found under the sun in addition to politics and the working of the state came as relief to some and brought horror to others who were never bothered about looking too deep into what went into living it up and down in the masses’ quarters at any given time. There would be the routine Ramazan features, such as the ones on prices, on how the law was being enforced to ensure that everybody gave the month the respect due to it. One regular write-up would be on the places where the less faithful and the ignorant and the criminally minded would gather, supposedly secretly, to eat during the day hours.

There used to be daily updates on how many had been caught from which area of the city breaking the fast and the code before the scheduled maghrib iftari. If religious censure was something that they sought to fight with a reference to their direct contact with and obligations to God, the ultimate authority to hold them accountable, breaking the law was something they had to be punished for here and in this world. That was one huge humiliation — to have been caught in the forbidden act anywhere close to home.

There would be series upon series of news features on Eid shopping. These, completely oblivious to the political correctness of the latter years, would categorise women as helpless slaves of a material world that forever forced them to feast on the latest fashion items on the market. These rich, standard images would then be consciously balanced out by the good, responsible sometimes pious journalists with some extra coverage of those who couldn’t afford to take part in the race for the latest fads. And there would be things which were too pricy to be within the reach of the ‘common’ man who everyone pitied.


Previously, there were many topics that were more likely to get noticed in Ramazan than during other months when they were ignored.


These features took up a lot of space in papers but other subjects had to be diligently searched for to make up for the missing sensation craved by the readers hooked on the political news and gossip. Of course, there would be some politics available and some would be artificially crafted with ploys such as a constant focus on the iftar parties the powerful hosted and attended, but generally the truce between politicians would hold for the month.

The stories — the fillers — that took centre stage would often be provided by such sources as the roads which had that uncanny bias for throwing up big accidents ahead of a festival or when the newsroom complained of it being a dull day. There would additionally be stories of feuds from the cities and the villages, in bigger supply than usual. These were places which found it hard to stick to the Ramazan ceasefire and were always edging to fill the space left vacant by politics or the lack of it — just as they quite often did on all weekends when the flow of the ‘normal’ news was weak.

There were so many topics which were more likely to get noticed in Ramazan as opposed to being ignored in the rush during other months. Someone who drowned in the local canal in the holy month invariably got wider, louder mention on a slow Ramazan day than he would have at any other time during the year. Thefts and robberies increased towards Eid and were readily lapped up by papers looking to close early and promising a fresh start to the operation full-scale when the crew returned from the holidays.

It can be said that this Ramazan, in year 2016, indicates a change in trend. There have been murder stories flashed, a series of them covering ‘honour’ killings that have been striving to snatch the limelight. There have been drowning and other accidents, which, however, have not been able to get the coverage as they used to in previous years simply because the regular supply of politics has continued without too great a drop in frequency.

There has been more politics in the month than is usual for Ramazan, and the usual scandals that hog attention the whole year did not leave the stage as they were once expected to. There has been persistent heckling over the terms of reference of the Panama probe, even if Ramazan has taken some of the energy out of the protest and its reaction from firebrand government defenders.

In any case, the tone elsewhere has been harsh, as in the case of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who, it appears, wants to create an impression that he is out to break the truce with PML-N far from pledging respect to it. There been actually war on the border, with Afghanistan, and the holy month has brought little respite from the clashes the electronic and social media have become famous for.

Not least, the faithful are viciously engaged in a debate about which of the two sides is more evil than the other after some maulvi resorts to the obscene as he targets a liberal participant in a talk show. A few years ago, there would have perhaps been a greater number of voices demanding adherence to the Ramazan etiquette. It seems that not too many today are prepared to waste time on practising and preaching good Ramazan manners. This should come as a shock to friends in the old mould.

The writer is Dawn’s resident editor in Lahore.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2016

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