Ludhiana, February 8
The recent thaw in the Indo-Pak relations and the conciliatory stance adopted by the Pakistani President, Gen Pervez Musharraf also reflects feelings and sentiments of masses of Pakistan. According to Madeeha Gauhar and Shahid Nadeem, leading theatre personalities from Pakistan, the winds of change are blowing in their country and the people think that they should live in peace and harmony with their neighbour.

Gauhar and Nadeem are running “Ajoka”, a theatre group for the past 20 years. In an interview with The Tribune, they said, “Ajoka,” in itself was an affront to the military regime of Gen Zia ul-Haq who tried to suppress all types of freedom, particularly the freedom of speech. “At that time we decided to give voice to the people and created “Ajoka”, Nadeem said, adding that the evolution of theatre in Pakistan owned a lot to “Ajoka”.

Both Gauhar and Nadeem have strong bonds with India. Gauhar was born to a Gujarati mother and a Pashtoo father. All her maternal relatives are in Gujarat. And Nadeem is an “original Kashmiri”, who was born in Sopore. He was a small child when his father decided to migrate to Pakistan after the Partition. Although Nadeem of late has regularly been visiting India, he has not been able to visit Sopore since 1989, for obvious reasons as every Pakistani is viewed with suspicion and not allowed permission to go to Kashmir.

Gauhar and Nadeem said that they were no exception in their love for India as there were thousands of people who had an emotional stakes in the country. Moreover, they revealed, there was an overriding urge among common Pakistanis to live in peace with India. The days of sectarian chauvinism were over and a new outlook was emerging the among the people, they added.

“Ajoka” became popular a few months ago across Punjab after it staged Punjabi play “Bhullah”, based on the life of famous Sufi poet Bhulle Shah. The play was received well everywhere and the group got invitations for more performances. This indicates that the people have a great urge to share all the good things”, Nadeem said, pointing out, “like Indian films and music are popular in Pakistan so was our play here. He said famous singers like Mehndi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Abida Parveen, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and others there as popular in India as they were in Pakistan.