Sawa 14 August and delusions of the past

With more than four decades of history told in 90 minutes, the play is about something and nothing at the same time.

KARACHI:

Sawa 14 August is a reflection of Pakistan’s selective amnesia. 

Written by famous playwright Anwar Maqsood and directed by Dawar Mehmood of KopyKats productions, the 90-minute one-act play gives a deluded and simplistic account of more than four decades of history.

While the play is primarily about “the two people who contributed most to Pakistan’s destruction” — General Ziaul Haq and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto — it manages to mention everything that appears on the checklist of Pakistan’s problems. Drones, negotiations with the Taliban, Pakistan Peoples Party’s governance (or lack of), assassination of Nawab Akbar Bugti, PIA , railways, Pervez Musharraf’s arrest, target killings and of course, the “minorities” — you name it, they have it.

Given the growth of theatre in Pakistan in recent years in which we have seen some brilliant performances, the acting of Gohar Rasheed as Ziaul Haq, Wassam Waheed as Bhutto and Zahid Ahmed as Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, were fairly mediocre. The exaggerated sulk and hunch and loud and emotional speeches meant to add patriotic fervour made for a generally poor performance.

But one actor who does outstandingly well is Yasir Hussain, who plays three different characters — a Sindhi politician, a Pakhtun poet and an aged man on the railway station. Hussain has brilliant dialogue delivery and steals the stage with his presence each time.

The weakest part of the play is the script itself.  It thrives on the sadistic pleasure of counting present losses and thinking back to a glorious past — the existence of which, is of course, debatable.



The separation of East Pakistan surfaces at various instances with Jinnah criticising Bhutto for the split between the two sides.  It seems that the creation of Bangladesh has left a deep scar on the writer as it is discussed with a great sense of loss in both Pawnay 14 August and Sawa 14 August. But although there is repeated mention of the incident, the script puts the onus solely on Bhutto. In fact, he is made to seem almost nonchalant over the matter. At one point he says, “Woh to kabhi Pakistan ka hissa tha hi nahi [East Pakistan was never a part of the country].”

This version of history does not only reflect a selective amnesia, but is also dishonest. There is no mention of the riots over the national language, decades of economic neglect, discrimination or human rights violations by the Pakistani state that existed prior to the emergence of Bangladesh.

The script is similar in its mention of Balochistan. While there is a Sindhi, Pakhtun, Punjabi and one character who seems to be a mahajir, there is no Baloch. When the Pakhtun poet (who for some unexplainable reason carries a parrot with him) is asked about how things are in Balochistan, he says there is a problem in the ‘Bugti rag’. Very intelligent. Very witty. Very simplistic.

The script hinges its humour on stereotypes from the clueless PPP voter, to the elite Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf supporter and Pakhtun accents. Classist humour at one part of the play is particularly shocking when there is a dialogue on ‘maasi tumhay Mercedez ki sair karoun’. Worse than the dialogue itself, is the roar of laughter from the audience at this point.

Jinnah’s emphatic message for students at the end of the play is yet another loophole. In an emotional speech, he tells students to concentrate on their studies and not indulge in politics. This is particularly surprising for the portrayal of a man who encouraged students to direct their energies towards attaining Pakistan. The inclusion of student politics by Maqsood is both surprising and out of place, especially because the play bashes politicians throughout. The writer does not seem to recognise that it is perhaps the restriction on student politics that has led to the political vacuum we suffer from today.

If sensitive and controversial matters are to be discussed, they must be told with a greater degree of honesty. While the intention of the writer and director to tell the history of Pakistan to the younger generations may well be good, telling half the story is more dangerous than not saying anything at all.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2013.

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