Ban on Burqavaganza stirs debate on space available for free thought

Lahore: The ban on Lahore-based Ajoka Theatre's Burqavaganza has not gone down well with the more progressive sections of society.

The play, which over the course of performances in the Punjab capital had much of the audience in splits, was silenced for taking potshots at stick-wielding, veiled, female seminary students in Islamabad.

Written by playwright Shahid Nadeed on the same satirical lines as most of Ajoka's other productions, the play came at a time when public interest in the Jamia Hafsa issue, and attempts by its students to forcibly impose Sharia, was high.

Madeeha Gohar, the award-winning theatre activist who heads the Ajoka group and the wife of the playwright, says the production was never meant to make light of sentiments but only intended to speak out against violence let loose by certain elements and called for the ban to be lifted.

The Ajoka group is no stranger to controversy or run-ins with authority. Formed as a pioneering street theatre group in the mid-1980s during the repressive regime of the late military dictator General Zia-ul Haq, it spread its wings underground. Performances were held in private gardens, where small audiences huddled in darkness around hedges and shrubs to avoid being detected.

Suppression

Whereas the era of suppression has faded away, the latest ban suggests that acceptance for artistic expression can still pose problems.

Civil rights activists who have leapt to Ajoka's defence have pointed out that no one was compelled to watch the play and that anyone who disagreed with the subject matter could opt to stay away or simply walk out.

Questions

The issue has also raised the question of the space available for debate in society. Critics of official policy argue that such acts will only serve to curtail the space available for liberal expression in society.

For the present, the play remains banned and plans to stage it in locations outside Lahore ambushed. The issue, however, is certain to stir up heated argument.

The play was the centrepiece of Ajoka's entries at the Panj Pani‚ (Five Waters) theatre festival taking place in the city. The unexpected government ban came after women legislators belonging to the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), a coalition of religious parties, raised the issue in the National Assembly.