Talent show: Lyari's youth raises its voice against violence

The participants put up plays and screened documentaries which showed how they feel about the conflict in their area.

KARACHI: The young people of Lyari are raising their voices. They want to show what it's like to live in area where gang war has taken many lives and destroyed families. After the attack in Jhatpat Market, they held a talent show on Thursday.

The event, 'Talent of Lyari' was organised by the Karachi Youth Initiative and Empowerment thru Creative Integration (ECI) and was held at National Museum of Pakistan.

Nearly 250 young people from Lyari attended the talent show and displayed how peace, unity, intolerance and diversity in their area through drama, documentaries and art.

Youth Students Theatre Group performed a play called 'Kia Mila Tujhe Aisa Kar Ke,' (what did you get by doing this). The hall echoed with cheers  as the crowd enjoyed themselves. The play was about the incident at the market. The actors showed how the people in the area used to go about their day-to-day life and how that changed after the attack. The play also focused on positive changes that could be made with proper dialogue.

"Lyari is bleeding," said Abdul Waji, a member of the theatre group. "Please don't isolate us. This is a plea from the children and young men and women of Lyari."

CEO of the Youth Club, Sohail Rahi, said that the children had presented the entire incident in a very effective manner. "They have given hope to the people," he said. "This hope stems from the voice these young people are raising." He added that a change was seen in Lyari when the people stood outside Karachi Press Club to protest against extremism. This, he said, showed that the people were capable of bringing out a big change.

A group of girls between the ages of 15 and 20 also performed in the play. "This is the second time we are performing on stage," said 17-year-old Samreen Naz. "We have performed in other plays based on killings in Lyari at Pakistan Steel Cadet College (PSCC)."

A short film titled 'Need fire wings towards a new light,' an AWR production directed by Ahmed Wali Rais, was screened during the show. Its message for the youth was to stand up together to fight for themselves.

"I am amazed to see these children doing such great work," said Rais. "Showing that they can raise their voice against the violence through different medium is brilliant."

The CEO of the production company, Ali Baloch, said they could get better at what they do if they were sponsored by a big company which would let them explore their ideas more. "They have made such great films with a small budget," he said. "Imagine what they can achieve with more money."

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2014.