Page 59 - 31OCT2018E

‘Lahore today is a monolithic city’

haroon khalid
Author

The PakisTani city, which has a multi- few decades. The legacy of the Islamiza- should have been awarded to India. There
cultural history, has become a monolithic tion of Zia-ul-Haq still continues to cast a are others who claim that Muslims were
city and there is no public discourse about shadow on the cultural life of the city and in a majority in the city. Now however the
its diverse past. However, the traces of the the country. For example seeds of destruc- population of the city is overwhelmingly
history — abandoned temples, gurdwaras, tion for the film industry of Pakistan were Muslim, with a minute population of non-
havelis, etc — are scattered all over the city, sown in these years and one saw towards Muslims. There are a handful of Baha’is
haroon khalid tells riyaz wani the end of the 1990s and beginnings of and Zoroastrians, and even Hindus. The
2000s, the death of the Lahore based film largest proportion of non-Muslims in the
edited excerpts from an interview • industry. There has been a recent revival city is I believe of Christians.
in the movie industry but that has been
more Karachi centric. Another major blow What has been the role of religion
Lahore is a trip down the city’s to culture came in the form of the dete- and religious parties in the affairs of
multi-cultural pre-partition past? riorating law and order situation. Major Lahore over the past three decades?
What inspired you to embark on this music and other cultural festivals in the The influence of the religious parties
journey? country came under threat, thus reducing doesn’t reflect in the electoral politics
It was this paradoxical relationship that their frequency. Even the literary culture of the city?
the city today has with its multi-cultural that once boasted of stalwarts such as Faiz Lahore being the largest city in a newly
past. Lahore today is a monolithic city and and Manto, slowly began to fade away. created state became the hub of religious
there is no public discourse about its di- parties, which mind you, were not neces-
verse past. However scattered all around What was the pre-partition sarily in favor of the creation of country.
the city are traces of this history — aban- demography of Lahore like? And how Lahore was at the vanguard of 1953 anti-
doned temples, gurdwaras, havelis. Some- many non-Muslims live in the city now? Ahmadiyya riots which in many ways
times this heritage also survives in terms The Hindu-Muslim population of pre- paved way for the religious parties’ future
of its names. There are still localities in the Partition Lahore was quite evenly divided. course of action. Many of these religious
city that are called Krishan Nagar or Laxmi There are some narratives that suggest parties still have a strong street presence
chowk, despite the homogenous façade of that in fact the Hindu population of Lahore in the city and there are thousands of graf-
the city. It is these hidden aspects of the was more than Muslims, hence Lahore fiti around Lahore to highlight this, but
city that I wanted to explore and discover. none of these parties have any electoral
presence. Thus in a way due to their street
You write Lahore of today is not nuisance power their voice ends up being
comfortable with its Hindu and Sikh louder than their due.
past but the past keeps projecting into
the present? ImagInIng Lahore What does the rise of Imran Khan’s PTI
Yes. No city or people can erase its past. In by: Haroon KaHalid as the dominant political force mean
Penguin
many ways these stories and the past sur- 304 pp; 599 for Lahore. Will anything change?
vive in the forms of structures or names I The rise of Imran Khan’s PTI in fact rein-
have mentioned above, but sometimes it forces the central hegemonic role the city
also exists in terms of stories and narra- hold on the politics of the country. It is La-
tives. Every nook and corner of the city has hore that ushered Imran Khan to centre
a story to tell. These stories even though stage. His jalsa in the city in October 2011
not acknowledged officially, continue to is what led to many sitting up and taking
form a part of the folklore and its oral nar- notice. Lahore has also been the centre of
rative. For example even today one gets to power for Nawaz Sharif’s PML-N, and also
hear from the older residents of the city the home of Imran Khan, thus the city be-
about what the city was like at the time of came the miniature of the larger political
Ranjit Singh or the ‘Hindus’. tussle between these two parties. However
whereas in the past Nawaz Sharif’s PML-
Lahore continued to be the cultural N invested heavily on the infrastructure
capital of Pakistan for several decades of the city, I think Imran Khan might not
after partition. What is the situation do the same given that he has always been
like now. How is the city shaping up critical of PML-N’s Lahore centric view of
to be? Punjab and Pakistan.
It is not just Lahore but the entire country’s
culture has suffered immensely in the past letters@tehelka.com