Bangkok post – Pakistani drama breaks silence about blasphemy murders

Karachi: a mafia that pushes the ax persecutes a terrified group; A daring Pakistani television drama for the first time has addressed the deeply delicate theme of the dozens killed by alleged blasphemy.

Islam is the official religion in Pakistan of Muslim majority, and accusations of insulting religious feelings can easily incite the violence of the mafia.

Blasphymia is a incendiary position, and the issue is rarely discussed by the main media stations due to security concerns.

But the producer Sultana Siddiqui challenged that with a television drama of 11 parts, which has gained praise since it began to be transmitted in December for handling a taboo theme with sensitivity.

“This problem has not been raised before for fear,” Siddiqui, founder of the Hum Network media company, told AFP.

Your drama So man Neelo Neeleither Bruises in the body and soulHe tells the stories of people in a small Pakistani city, and has generated millions of views and generalized praise on social networks.

“I risked carefully,” he said. “That’s why people appreciated it.”

‘Malicious misinformation’

In the drama, the case of blasphemy focuses on a character that falsely states that a dance performance takes place in a mosque, instead of the abandoned mansion in which it occurred.

That story of false accusations is an echo of reality.

The Independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, in a report last month, described the “impunity of hate and violence perpetrators.”

He detailed cases of murdered people, and followers and places of cult of the minority religions of Pakistan, including Christians and Hindu, being attacked by false statements.

“The police … often have not rescued the suspected blasphemy of vigilant violence,” said the commission.

“A careful examination of several blasphemy accusations shows that these are invariably based on manufactures, malicious misinformation and false news.”

Siddiqui said he was motivated by a 2017 case in the city of Mardan when a mafia beat the death of a 23 -year -old journalism student Mashal Khan after accusing him of publishing online blasphemous content.

“I could not sleep after listening to Mashal’s mother to say that” not a single bone in her body was left useless, even the bones of her fingers were fractured, “he said.

“I asked me: how brutally have they hit it?”

Mohammad Iqbal, the father of the murdered student, said the producer had chosen the “correct theme” and had “honored his son.”

“We, the most affected, have rarely talked about it publicly,” he told AFP.

“Finally, this conversation is happening on television.”

‘Saza Consciousness’

Siddiqui said he had wanted to address the problem and that he had been carefully collaborating with other directors and writers to address the issue properly.

“I also fear extremists who could not like and could harm me,” he said.

“However, I think we must address these problems with them in a respectful way.”

Siddiqui said it was his “duty to educate people” and “raise awareness about crucial social problems” that affect society.

Pakistani dramas have a mass audience and their popularity serves as a powerful vehicle for social change.

A Gallup survey conducted in October 2023 suggested that two quintos of Country’s observation dramas.

“We should have talked about such issues much earlier,” said Mustafa Afridi, the program writer.

“If we had had it, perhaps we would not be in this situation today, maybe our children would not be dying.”

‘Viral critic’

The Pakistan media industry distrusts the subject, and falling into the past of the accusations of creating blasphemous content.

The launch in 2019 of the award -winning film Zindagi Tamashaeither Life circusHe was arrested after the Islamist party Tehreek-E-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) opposed his representation of a cleric they considered “blasphemous.”

In 2020, a music video filmed in the Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore caused furious protests after the Bilal singer Saeed was filmed dancing with the actor Saba Qamar.

Police presented a case against them and apologized, and finally they were acquitted two years later.

Arafat Mazhar, director of the policy group of the Blasphemia Alliance, said the Siddiqui program had “caused a viral criticism of the violence of the mafia related to blasphemy.”

He called the “unprecedented” reaction.

“It was not just that people were seeing a drama about the violence of the mafia, it was that the conversation focused on the violence of the mafia on such a large scale for the first time,” he told AFP.

“The battle against blasphemy violence is not just about talking against the murders of the mafia. It is about challenging the structures that create and support them.”