Understand the difference: Artists discuss tolerating intolerance and moving forward

The young generation needs to understand that religion is part of culture, not vice versa.

KARACHI: We live in an age where we have to ‘talk’ about tolerance, said journalist Ghazi Salahuddin while discussing how celebrating a day of tolerance implied that there was intolerance in the world. “Our cultural and educational backwardness is what is holding us back.”

While talking at a seminar held at the Arts Council of Pakistan by Kumak, a youth organisation, he said that the new generation was growing up in a barren land that should be watered with tolerance and education. “Extremism and militancy in the form of the Taliban, sectarianism, urban or political violence, is threatening the country,” he said. “We will not be able to move forward if we keep on poisoning ourselves with the Allah Hafiz/Khuda Hafiz debate.” The journalist added that although using one or the other did not make a difference, the world was in such a bad shape that no one was allowed to choose what they wanted to believe in.

While talking at the event on Wednesday, actor Hina Khwaja Bayat said that she was disappointed with the turnout.

She added that it was a reflection of the growing intolerance in society. “We need to test our limits and see how much we can tolerate,” she said. “By tolerating intolerance we are actually contributing to it.”

She felt that the best form of activism she had seen in her life was during General Zia-ul Haq’s dictatorship. “Today, Pakistan is under a disguised dictatorship,” she said. “A system which caps ideas and new thoughts is not a democracy, it is a dictatorship.”

Television show host Faheem Siddiqui said that intolerance was not that bad - provided it was for the right cause. “If we went on tolerating everything, nothing would change,” he said.

“If the former president’s policies were tolerated then the lawyers’ movement would not have been successful.” He added that the student protest in Gujranwala was wrong.

Women’s rights activist and classical dancer Sheema Kirmani said that the beauty of society was in its diversity. She added that society could not move forward if art and culture was not promoted.

“When those in power suppress literature, art, music and theatre it will force the people to become aggressive and express their feelings accordingly,” she said. “Religion is part of culture and not vice versa. Pakistan cannot be civilised if the two are not separated.”

Another television show host Uzma Alkarim said that it was important to dealing with the situations rather than reacting to them. “Sometimes the best reaction is not to react at all,” she said. “By foregoing little things we actually prevent bigger problems.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th,  2011.