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FOCAL POINT: Culture must live on
Ethics is an amazing discipline. If not misconstrued, it draws a razor-thin line between the philosophical perception of human values and practical acts. In simpler terms, it ordains an act with two or more applications. Anything which could be bad for someone, can be good for the other. This is how the difference between absolute and relative values came into being. But taboos play a big role as well and all absolute values are not eternally as absolute as we take them.
Since the inception of Pakistan, various aspects of life including Pakistani culture, our history, human bondage and fundamental rights have been discussed on almost every forum. But it is ironic that we end up every time mixing many things and fail to define and accept what we are and what we ought to have owned.
The major part of the debate has been spent on the squabbling over the conception of culture. There is a school which says that our culture is what we have been living with from time immemorial, in other words, linking our present with the ancient past. The other school defies it and counts our culture from the inception of Islam.
This makes the question a very delicate one. A series of debates aired on the electronic and print media and participated by intellectuals and scholars some years back could not create a consensus and it appeared that the debate would never end. Why did it happen and how could it not be resolved is due to extreme polarization, divergence in thought and existence of a sense of rejecting the realities of the historical process.
Immorality and obscenity are totally different things. We have a culture and cannot draw our conclusions according to our wishes suiting our ends. The subcontinent has a rich culture, specially in fine arts. This heritage must not be torn apart on one pretext or the other
Fine arts suffered the most. First went down drama, then dance. But before vocal and instrumental music could take the onslaught, some exponents of music thought it appropriate to save it and added Turko-Persian-Arabic influence creating a fusion music unknown to the people of the subcontinent. It was only after the works of such great exponents like Al-Kindi, Abu Nasar Farabi, Ibn-i-Musajah, Ibrahim Moosli and Amir Khusro that the Muslims thought of not only preserving musical traditions but also made additions, which were so rich that no one can, now, even think of expunging. Muslim scholars and mystics made tremendous contribution in giving the music of the subcontinent a new form. But by then the arts of dance and drama had been so damaged that their salvage became a difficult task and, whosoever attempted, faced severe criticism. While the two arts only survived in the rulers’ courts, which were never resisted, the average man was deprived of the oldest faculties of human instincts.
After Independence, it was presumed that the musical arts would see some liberal attitude in Pakistan and in the early days of Pakistan there were signs of some promotion, till the separation of the then East Pakistan in 1972. In the post-1977 upheaval, life underwent changes. The urban culture became hostage to taboos. Dance vanished and dancers like Naheed Siddiqui had to leave the country. Drama did not get promotion. Unaware of the advancing technology, an authoritarian policy was formulated to project certain perceptions that fine arts had never seen before.
When democracy was restored in 1988, a ray of hope appeared for the promotion of musical arts in their natural way. But the political brawls jeopardized the arts. No doubt that technological advancement in the form of satellite television and cable have changed the scope of people but at the same time taboos have their backlashes.
Today, the musical arts have broken the barriers of physical limits of the countries, but local talent has to face the ups and downs of the changing political scenario.
The two incidents, one in Quetta and the other in Peshawar on Eid day resulting in the closure of a circus and funfair, are perhaps the first occurrences that are pointers of what we intend to do to our public entertainment and reshape our arts. Those who forced the closure of the funfair and circus would perhaps claim that they were a source of immorality.
Undoubtedly, immorality is deplorable. But let us remind ourselves that immorality, nudity and obscenity are totally different things. We have a culture and cannot draw our conclusions according to our wishes suiting our ends. The subcontinent has a rich culture, specially in fine arts. This heritage must not be torn apart on one pretext or the other.
We do not have to go back long in history to remember the whims of political leaders regarding culture, and that it cannot be sacrificed on the altar of views. Only two decades back, vocalists like Gogosh and Mahsti fled Iran; Afghan singer Gul Jan Sadiq took refuge in Peshawar but the art survived.
We believe in high values of life, irrespective of the region and historical background. But culture has its own denominations and must be weighed in that perspective. If dance and music are vices then the film industry is its largest source and should be closed down. Television is another main source of spreading alien cultures thus all television sets should be destroyed. If wrong is being done, check the source correctly.
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