HISTORY

By: Manahil Waqas

​

Earlier this year, Bollywood released the second sequel for the three-part film series Dhurandar that crossed all box office charts. Over 45 million watched the anti-Pakistan propaganda, action-packed film that promised to offer audiences an authentic theatrical experience by nitpicking real-life events and exacerbating them. This issue is not just restricted to the movie series’ plotline but also towards its costume design, the set design and the way the character arcs are developed. For example, many Pakistani netizens have expressed that they do not use the lingo and style that has been associated with Pakistani origin characters in the film.

 

This issue is not just restricted to Dhurandar. The Bollywood industry which happens to be the world’s second largest film industry, producing around 340 films a year, has used such tactics for years to please audiences. Films like ‘The Kashmir Files’, and, ‘The Kerala Story’, were met with similar criticism. Yet, Dhurandar seems to be the movie that has amassed most of this criticism because it was released into a world that had witnessed the tensions that fostered between India and Pakistan last May- tensions that many geo-political experts believed would transcend into a war. Furthermore, even if Pakistan is removed from the discussion centering this film and many like it, the issue with such narratives remains salient.

 

India is home to the 3rd largest Muslim population in the world and its current government dominated by members of the ‘Bharatiya Janata Party’, have been known to use anti-muslim rhetoric to strenghen their support amongst regions where the idea of a secular India has still not been welcomed. Under the party’s leadership property owned by Muslims has been demolished without the consent of the owners. However, this problem is not just an ‘India problem’, but one that looms over the entirety of the sub-continent.

 

The partition of 1947 has made many believe that nationality and religion always have to be synonymous. This is why over the decades, the Pakistani government has not been able to take effective action against the demolition of Buddhist architecture and sites by extremist militancy groups such as the Taliban. In 2007 the Pakistani Taliban bombed a 7th century 23-foot tall carved Buddha. In July 2020 local construction workers used their contractor sledgehammers to destroy a 1700 year old Buddha that was unearthed during building work. 

 

The only efforts taken by the government are ones that last for a set duration of months or weeks and then transform into catchy headlines. Afterwards, the same issues remain as proper preservation of sites requires time, commitment and sufficient funds. Few projects that have been able to succeed are those that involve a number of parties, many of which are private organizations. An example of such a project being the ‘Preservation of Buddhist Rock Reliefs in the Swat Valley: Documentation, First Aid Conservation, and Climate Change Adaptation‘ carried out by HERITAGE in collaboration with with EssaNoor Associates, the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums KP, and the Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan and British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund.

 

The government can be criticized for this. Many leading government figures have been caught using religious narratives just to garner votes amongst the majority. For example, a video of the ex- Prime Minister Imran Khan circulated on social media a few years ago where he was being advised to add an, ‘Islamic touch’, to his speech. This example acts as an evidence of the fact that those in power are well-aware that monetizing on religious sentiments would make them more popular and likable amongst the population. Yet, in doing so they forget that Pakistan’s flag has a white section dedicated to its minorities. This recognition implies that sites belonging to minority groups such as that of the Hindus and Buddhists should be assigned the same value as those assigned to Muslim sites.

 

For example, the ‘Katas Raj Temple’, a Hindu temple complex located in the Salt Range of Punjab, Pakistan is the largest Hindu temple in Pakistan and can be dated back to the 615-950 CE, around the same time as the advent of Islam or even before that. The temple also serves as a popular pilgrimage site for many Hindus, including those from India. Hence, if the government allocates adequate funds to the site then in the long run it can benefit from the tourists that visit the area, including those which come for pilgrimage. Yet, such action has not been taken. In fact the opposite has been done for example, according to the Evacuee Trustee Board property, in 1992 after the Babri Mosque demolition in India, Hindu deities from the temple were removed as members of the public could retaliate by attacking those deities and making a bold statement in front of India.

 

These instances highlight that nationality, history and religion all seem to be intertwined in the sub-continent of today. Many still believe that preserving the historical sites belonging to  a different religious group implies that they are promoting that religion. This mentality will result in us being deprived of structures such as the Katas Raj temple which can be deemed to have as much importance as many Mughal structures in the country that the government pays attention towards. For example the Shalimar Gardens or the Sheesh Mahal located in the walled city of Lahore which were allocated funds worth 29.4 billion rupees by the government of Punjab last year. The only prominent record for the temple’s funding is the 600 million rupees allocated towards its renovation in 2012.