MELBOURNE: A perennial debate on Pakistani culture has been raging ever since the creation of the country. It is intriguing that some of our leading media anchors have often been seen battling with the question of Pakistani culture in talk shows. There is no dearth of experts on the subject but we all know that the ratings-driven electronic media is more concerned about its own commercial interests than about educating the people on sensitive issues like culture. Such talk shows often start with ‘vulgar’ scenes from Pakistani or brother Islamic countries’ television plays and then right-wing custodians of our morals flog the so-called liberals for misleading the common man on sacred cultural issues. Pakistan is a culturally diverse country with almost no dominant culture except the state-backed so-called Islamic culture, which emerged under the regime of General Ziaul Haq. The founder of the country, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, could not speak Urdu, which is often taken as the biggest symbol of Pakistani culture. Shalwar kameez as a Pakistani cultural symbol was introduced in the 1970s as a national dress. If one has watched Pakistani television plays till the late 1970s, one would notice that both male and female actors wore Western dresses.
Pakistan is a multicultural country. People such as Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Hanif Ramay dared for the first time to counter the establishment’s religion-based narrative in the early 1970s and endeavoured to find a solid culture based on identity for the country. However, their narrative did not suit the establishment and it fought the ideas presented by such men with lots of vigour. The idea of religious nationalism was imposed, the consequence of which is widespread exhibitionist religiosity.
Culture is not something which is stagnant; it is something which is always in a state of change. Today, most Pakistanis do not dress like their grandfathers did nor do they speak their language. Culture evolves under scientific and social influences. It cannot be frozen in a particular moment in time. Pakistani culture is what Pakistanis do at any given point in time.
Malik Atif Mahmood Majoka
Published in The Express Tribune, March 16th, 2013.
