Daily Times

I am not sure if Veena Malik was the most articulate person in characterising the mullah and questioning the cliché of Pakistani culture, but I do know that she was brave in speaking the plain truth. If our media is concerned about how Pakistani culture is portrayed abroad, then they should ask the world whether Veena Malik or the jihadis of different stripes and their supporting network of religious parties are giving a bad name to the country. They should ask the world if sentencing Aasia Bibi to death is more troublesome than Veena Malik’s entertainment stint in India.

Ms Malik was not the first one to have said that mullahs sexually exploit in the mosques, it was the greatest Punjabi poet, Waris Shah, who created the mullah’s character in the epic love story of Heer Ranjha to denounce the theocracy, and said the same thing. In one of the dialogues with the mullah, Waris Shah (stanza 37) characterises the mullah and in the last line he says exactly what Veena Malik said:

“(Mullah) Your beard is like a pious scholar and you act like a devil. You condemn (even) the travellers for nothing.

You sit on the podium and recite Quran like you are setting up a devious trap.

Make a distinction for me between prohibited and otherwise. Give me evidence from sharia.

The God is gracious (to tolerate) the way you have entered tabooed (dirty) parts (of body)

Waris Shah, these mullahs perform sex in their monastery’s rooms and this is the style in which they plough.”

Pakistanis, especially Punjabis, would have been exposed to the anti-theocracy tradition of all Sufi poets if Punjabi were taught at any level of education. The Urdu and English literature taught in the educational system is completely silent on this conflict with theocracy since the 11th century among the Muslims of the subcontinent. Consequently, it is ironic that even the followers of Sufi traditions have become ritualistic mullahs. I challenge them to answer one simple question: did any founding father of Sufism, from Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti to Khwaja Ghulam Farid, ever ask his followers to take the life of a non-believer for anything, including blasphemy? As a matter of fact, even Sultan Bahu, who was on the conservative side of the Sufi spectrum, characterised the mullah in these words:

“The religious scholars study just to demonstrate arrogance while mullahs boast,

These wretched people wander the streets carrying their books (scriptures),

Wherever they see rich food (as offering) they recite with more with zeal,

Those people who are selling their labour (religious knowledge) are robbed in both worlds.”

Veena Malik is also right in asking what is the definition of the Pakistani culture she is required to represent abroad. There are several cultures in Pakistan — Punjabi, Sindhi, Baloch, Pakhtun, Urdu-speaking, etc. Within each of these cultures, there are class divisions and sub-cultures. Each of these cultures has its own characteristics. Then how can one achieve some unified definition of a monolithic Pakistani culture? Probably, Punjabi-Urdu-speaking media persons have their own specific definition. Probably, the post-Ziaul Haq manifestations of middle-class conservative/chauvinistic trends are taken to be Pakistani culture. Or is the definition of culture limited by the supposed monopoly of theocracy? Are we living in the medieval era where the pope defines European culture?

I know that when I was growing up in a remote village in Punjab, the women used to move about freely and participate in the production process. No woman, except those related to rich farmers, could afford to sit behind the home walls. Even the females of rich households did not wear any hijab or burqa. As a matter of fact, the burqa was considered a fashionable thing to be seen as someone urban. It was much later, after the mechanisation of agriculture, that women started sitting behind the house’s walls though they still do not wear the hijab or burqa. This has been the culture of Punjab, at least, for thousands of years.

After the mid-1970s, rural migration to urban centres increased manifold. A new middle class, which had recently become urbanised, provided the basis for Zia’s Islamisation and, later on, jihadi projects. Therefore, the original culture was subverted by a minority conservative community, which started dominating the media as well. Such a conservative media started projecting the subverted conservative culture of the minority of a few big cities as the Pakistani culture. But the culture of the Indus Valley still prevails and remains alive. Veena Malik is questioning the conservative minority’s chauvinistic conception of the Pakistani culture, and she has history to support her.

The writer can be reached at manzurejaz@yahoo.com