Play on Partition moves Indo-Pak audience

PUNE: The last evening of the visiting Pakistani civilian delegation in the city on January 19 was an emotional one with a trip down memory lane for many who bore the brunt of Partition.
The humane and brotherly feelings found vent when an extremely well-enacted Urdu play was presented to a jam-packed audience at the Azam campus on Wednesday.
What made the event unique was the presence of around 20 Pakistanis and their Indian hosts, who applauded every scene of the play, Jis Lahore Naee Dekhya, written by Asghar Wajahat of Jamia Milia Islamia University.
Produced under the auspices of city-based Creative theatre group, Raabta foundation, by its founder president Syed Saeed Ahmed and directed by National school of drama graduate, Milind Inamdar, the play reveals how cultured Indian and Pakistani families were pushed apart by physical threat by vested power brokers during the Partition.
Although the most touched were those Pakistanis and Indians who had experienced the Partition itself, many of the young members in the audience too were moved to tears! Such was the impact of the play that Bahri Malhotra, president of World foundation on the reverence of all life and convenor of the Indo-Pak reverence meet, announced this year’s compassion award to Raabta foundation.
Andleeb Ahmar, a Lahorebased banker, reacting to the Indo-Pak reverence programme and the play, said, "Indians and Pakistanis cannot be differentiated since they have a common cultural base. Fundamentalists are trying to separate us, which is pointed out by the play."
A delegate said the perception of many Pakistanis had changed dramatically after visiting India.
"I have travelled all over the world, but there is no country as warm and as open as India," she said, candidly adding that India was far ahead of Pakistan.
Another Pakistani described the play as "a drama" aimed at business. "If we get raw material cheap in China, we go there; there is no emotional bonding and all this is a farce," he said, while adding that Pakistanis would, however, want that Indo-Pak relations become peaceful so that the military expenditure is diverted to development.
Bilal Choudhry, a journalist, said the people-to-people contact would go a long way in changing our perceptions of each other. "A part of the younger generation hates India due to its pronouncements against Pakistan. Whatever happens in Kashmir is blamed on us. If people meet, politicians'' statements could be ignored," he said.
Welcoming the General agreement on trade in services, he said opening up will mean cheaper goods for both the peoples. "What is cheaper in Pakistan will be available in India and vice versa," he added.
The play, which went on for more than an hour, bared the ''real'' divisive forces and sought to convince that Indians and Pakistanis were brothers at heart and would go to any extent to save each other.
One Pakistani from the audience exclaimed Insha Allah (May God grant it) when a character exclaimed, "If India and Pakistan join hands, no other force can touch us.�