IS ZINDAGI A MERE TAMASHAH?

Circus Of Life In Pakistan!

Is zindagi (life) a mere tamashah (circus) in Pakistan? 41 years old Sarmad Sultan Khoosat has created controversy with his new presentation, his third film Zindagi Tamasha (2020), a pessimistic portrayal of religious clerics in Pakistan. Though the much-awaited screening of Zindagi Tamasha has now been delayed after being banned from appearing in cinemas by the provincial Sindh government, liberals and freethinkers in Pakistan are protesting the right to freedom of speech for everyone.

Khoosat, born in Lahore to veteran comedian Irfan Khoosat and graduating from a prestigious university as a gold medalist in psychology, Sarmad directed and acted in his first television presentation in 2007 CE after which he directed multiple series for famous Pakistani media houses after finally releasing his first film in 2015 CE. Manto, that revolved around the famous but controversial Pakistani bold short story writer Manto, was created by Khoosat and was widely appreciated for its truthfulness and originality.

Khoosat, who can rightfully be compared to India's Gowarekar for his delight in bringing the reality of history, culture and religion into life, tried to play hardball when he decided to handle the delicate subject of corruption among clerics. In 2011 CE, the Governor of Punjab Salman Taseer was gunned down by one of his own security guard Mumtaz Qadri, a radical Muslim who considered Taseer's vehement support for a Pakistani Christian woman accused of blasphemy as an act of blatant disbelief. Soon after his arrest, Qadri became a living martyr for the religious fundamentalists in Pakistan who hailed him as a mujahid (religious warrior) and a ghazi (surviving mujahid). Among the crowd of Qadri-admirer, there rose a certain mullah whose zealotry and fanaticism soon gained him immense popularity among ultraconservative Muslims in Pakistan. This person was Khadim Hussain Rizvi.

Rizvi earned himself a position as a national meme with his discourse and oratory style. Instead of using scholastic words in sermons, he appealed to the common people's minds with his usage of slang words and everyday language, But he was also condemned for his frequent usage of the word dalla (pimp) to refer to his ideological rival Tahir ul Qadri, another heavily respected scholar from Pakistan. Rizvi became famous when Asia, the woman accused of blasphemy but protected by the dead Governor, was released by court. Rizvi's followers who went by the name Tehrik e Labbaik, spread chaos in multiple Pakistani cities when they protested the court's decision. Rizvi was accused by his critics of using force and power to terrorize the country and bend the flow of gobernment's policies in his favor. Before that, Rizvi's Tehrik e Labbaik protested against the Law Minister's alleged mistake when he removed the words "I believe in the Finality of Prophecy in Muhammad" from an official oath-document thereby indirectly allowing the much-persecuted Ahmadis/Qadianis to serve in the government. 

One can now wonder how a liberal Muslim such as Khoosat would refrain from utilizing the sensitive but effective concept of a holy man struggling from his false portrayal among the laymen as a sinner. His award-winning film revolved around the life of a fictional cleric whose video gets viral in which he dances at a wedding, an incident that shook his life and forced people to boycott him. The wretched psalmograph who serves as the main protagonist is an emblem of the corruption among clerics that has spread in Pakistan. Recently, some clerics have been accused of molesting their students (even boys) and raping the taliban of religious schools. A cleric was caught who had raped a young boy more than a hundred times and had caused his eyes to bleed. Such incidents of pedophile clerics and even laymen harassing children have angered the mass public but still the conservative fundamentalist mindset is eagerly trying to defend the face of the clergy from the charges of pedophilia and they forcefully condemn anyone who tries to criticize the character of the clerics and the behavior of religious politicians.

Khadim Rizvi had a strange comment to make over this entire issue. Addressing a public gathering of his followers, he questioned whether they wanted atheism to come to Pakistan or films to abuse Islamic scholars. His party Tehrik e Labbaik is a vocal supporter of traditional scholars and fervently opposes any insult made against the clerics of Islam. Although the official position of Rizvi's subordinates has been nonviolence and peaceful protests nevertheless they have always glorified vigilante justice and mob violence.

Pakistani govt has now announced that the Council of Islamic Ideology will decide whether to allow the screening of this film or not. People are criticizing the inclusion of a Tehrik e Labbaik party member in the council because he is supposed to show bias against Khoosat.