If playwright Shahid Nadeem had things his way the history books taught in Pakistani schools would be thoroughly revised. Besides other changes these books will emphasize that the partition in 1947 was meant to be a compromise to end the conflict between the two large religious communities of South Asia; the momentous event was definitely not meant to start the conflict and create a hostile environment in which the two neighboring countries point nuclear weapons at each other.
The director of Ajoka Theatre, who lives several other lives -- as a columnist, as a human rights activist, and as a self-appointed Pakistani ambassador at large -- visited the Bay Area and amused the liberal Pakistani community with his non-conformist stand on every issue.
Shahid Nadeem gave two presentations in the Bay Area. The first one was held at the Stanford University and consisted of screening of his play “Aik Thee Naanee” followed by a Q & A session. It was organized by Friends of South Asia [http://www.friendsofsouthasia.org] in collaboration with Ekta, Dosti, 3rd I, Sanskriti, Koshish Foundation and Urdu Academy. Ahimsa and Ekta [http://www.ektaonline.org] organized the second presentation, a showing of video clips of several of his plays, at UC Berkeley.
Shahid Nadeem has written over forty plays, all of which challenge the views of the various power nuclei. He doesn’t seem interested in making friends in high places.
In his play “Bala King” he elucidates the process of criminalization of politics in Pakistan. In “Bulha” he exposes the audience to the brand of Islam that was once prevalent in South Asia - Sufi Islam. In “Aik Thee Naanee,” he questions the forged Pakistani identity, with a horde of sprouting questions: How far should the two-nation theory be carried; should we associate ourselves with the Middle East just because Pakistan was created in the name of Islam; should the people of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan revere Mahmood Ghaznavi, the Afghan adventurer, just because he had a Muslim name; why do Pakistanis listen to music and appreciate the arts while they look down at the people that are involved in producing them?
Ajoka Theatre -- Ajoka means “of today” in Punjabi -- is based in Lahore and has taken Shahid Nadeem’s stage plays on the road all over Pakistan and to India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Presentations of his play have been made by local groups in North America too.
The world of Shahid Nadeem is provocative: in his plays, you would see burqa clad women dancing, men with flowing white beards whirling in ecstasy. Still, he hasn’t been declared a kaafir, a fitna and a threat to our values yet. Why? Probably because his TV plays have always been censored and his theatre productions have had a limited, elitist audience. All this may drastically change with the new government currently being formed in Pakistan. But Shahid Nadeem does not seem perturbed; he told his audience: “We have survived the wrath of governments before, and we will keep on doing our work.”
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