PESHAWAR: A team of young actors registered a magical impact on the residents of Maira Mamakhel village in Badbher through a lively Pashto stage play here on Tuesday.

The Da Ranra Malgari, a volunteer group of theatre performers, in collaboration with Paiman Alumni Trust staged the Pashto play at the hujra of a local nazim, Musharraf Khan, in Maira Mamakhel village on the outskirts of Peshawar.

A large number of political workers, rights activists, local elders and villagers attended the theatre play.

Play conveys message regarding dynamics of village politics

Janwali, a young villager, said that the live theatre performance impressed him and his colleagues. He said that the play conveyed a beautiful message in a befitting manner regarding the dynamics of village politics. He added that education could bring about a substantive change in the society.

The story of the play revolved round the character of a village elder, Khan Bahadur Khan, who always controlled people through his power and pelf and usurped their rights.

His rival Bkhatinosh Khan tried his level best to expose Bahadur Khan’s intriguing ways and means in the name of village politics but every time he ended up with more animosity and hatred that trickled down to the entire village.

The Pashto theatre play titled ‘Qurbani’ took an interesting turn when two young university graduates, Aslam and Khamis, hailing from the rival families, intervened and convinced their respective elders to sacrifice their vested interests and change their ‘Tarboorwali’ a negative Pakhtun code believing in cousin’s prejudice into ‘Rorwali’ ( brotherhood), a positive social value through serving the people.

Speaking on the occasion, Musharraf Khan said that although he was associated with the ruling PTI, yet he invited workers of all the mainstream political parties to watch the theatre play to learn the most important lesson regarding the true concept of politics. He said that villagers could be educated through such performances.

Afsarul Mulk Afghan, the young director and script writer of the play, said that his organisation comprising nine university students had been founded four years ago to spread the message of peace and raise awareness on pressing social issues through theatrical performances.

Haji Iqbal Khan, a local elder, in his brief speech said that the theatre play was a true reflection of the dirty village politics, which took ugly shape on certain occasions. He said that Pakhtuns had many positive social values but unfortunately negative aspects found place even in their art and literature.

The five performers included Rashid Khan, Wajid Khan, Amir Khan, Kashif Aziz and Afsar Afghan. They stunned the audience with their motivating performance and received rounds of applause from the participants.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2019