In the name of Allah, the most
Beneficent and Merciful.
This week Lahore is in the grip of Basant fever. Almost every billboard has Basant related promotion on it. Motorcycles are being fitted with protective sticks. Doctors in government medical colleges, even those teaching basic sciences, are being told to come to duty on the weekend, rooftops are being rented for millions of Rupees etc. It got me thinking about a 2012 movie “The Hunger Games”. The movie portrayed a dystopian society where the Capitol maintains power by forcing children from oppressed districts to fight to the death as televised entertainment, turning survival into spectacle. I cannot help but see the parallels in our Basant. The rich will have lavish parties with their friends and families on their rooftops and yell bo-kata after every “payche”. The children of the poor will run after the kites after every bo-kata. While pursuing the kite they may fall in open gutter (which don’t exist in our city) hit a vehicle, fight with each other as to who caught it first. In all of this, just like in the movie, they have a high probability of getting injured or even death. While they are participating in this hunger game the other side will continue enjoying its rooftop parties, completely oblivious to what is happing down below.
I don’t have
any expectation from our secular parties to confront this so-called traditional
festival but I expected the religious parties and the ulema to forcefully speak
against it. But unfortunately, the response is not as strong as it should be.
Is it the first result of the Rs 25K that the government of Punjab plans to pay
to ulema? Or is there something else behind the scene? I don’t know but would
like to know.
1 comment:
This article rightly highlights how Basant becomes a dangerous spectacle where the privileged remain safe while the poor, especially children, bear the risks. It is also worth noting that this Basant has been organized at the request of a powerful personality. Those who know the inside story understand it, but not everything can be said openly. In such a situation, opposition naturally becomes ineffective. When many voices, including religious ones, are financially tied to the state, meaningful resistance is unlikely.
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