In a chat with R Sharma, journalist Reema Abbasi talks about Pakistan’s paradox and explains how the state narrative is completely different from the public one
There are many temples of Indian gods and goddesses that are flourishing in Pakistan and people are not aware of them,” this is the Pakistan’s paradox. What we hear and know is only about the disturbed parts but who digs deep and tries to give another perspective of the story. At the ongoing Jaipur literature Festival, we met Reema Abbasi who spoke at length about the Pakistan which is ‘hidden’ and not many are aware of it unless they visit the country themselves.
Sitting on a chair at the terrace of the press area, Abbasi told us, “This is not Muslim soil. Even if you go by religion, chronologically speaking, it is 700-800 years old. So, pluralism is in our blood. People only hear about negative things but there is a kali ki gali in Peshawar. There is Gorkhatri in Peshawar which is 10,000 years old. We see pluralism in lingo as well, they use a lot of Hindi words to express if they are not talking in Pashto. You need to go and experience that , that is again the other version of the paradox.”
“For me, Pakistan paradox is one of a child who took eight bullets in his face when the APS happened, the Peshawar carnage. And it took a year for his to recover and he went back to the school. That shows the courage and his face took time to heal. So, that is one side of Pakistan. The same kids, when they back to school after the incident, they showed victory signs to the media and to parents who lost their children. That shows the courage of Pakistan that I salute,” she said.
Abbasi informed us that there is a huge difference in what we see and what in reality is the situation. “On the other side, there is a huge difference in the state narrative and the public narrative. That is because the International community has given it this kind of support which is eroded a lot of platforms from the public’s narrative. But, the important part is there is a big divide between the state and public narrative. The public connects with the Qawali and sufi traditions, and Heer and Ranjha shahbas mastqalandar, those are their seats of catharsis, that is where they go for relief. It is a multi layered paradox and I think that the public narrative should be more importance that is the hidden Pakistan,” she added.
Clearing the myths that a lot of people have, she said, “This is the reason when people visit there, they say it is an entirely different world. We do not wish to be anywhere close to Saudi, we do not speak the same language. We do not have the same customs; we don’t look at our women in the same way. There is a lot of dissent that comes in when that kind of imposition comes in play. Our language is Urdu and we don’t call pepsi, bebzi, so all of this is deeply dissented.” (laughs)
We asked her how she wanted to portray Pakistan to the world out there and she replied, “I think Pakistan is cracking down on things that it never did, they wanted a peaceful dialogue first. The Peshawar carnage has redefined it completely. It is very sad to see that it takes dead children to awaken people who are comfortable in their drawing room. But I hope the next generation will not lose its track,” she said.