Pakistanis should rise and compel their government to withdraw a decision to grant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, a Kashmiri separatist leader said on Sunday. Kashmiri separatists have rejected the Pakistan-India trade pact, saying it was being done under pressure from the United States. “Pakistani government is taking dictation from America and this deal is also result of that dictation,” Syed Ali Geelani said in a telephonic address to the Muzaffarabad Press Club, from Srinagar, the capital of Indian-held Kashmir. “It is a great source of pain for us to see Pakistan granting MFN status to India when Indian security forces are raping our women and destroying Islamic culture,” said Geelani. “I appeal to the Pakistani nation to protest on this development so that the government is compelled to take back its decision,” he said. Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif, PML-N Convener Raja Farooq Haider and Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi have assured support to Geelani. “The entire nation is ready. We will not step back an inch from our stance because freedom is our destination,” Alvi said.
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TOI – India may never have invaded Pakistan, but there’s no doubt that Bollywood and Hindi soap operas have virtually conquered the Pakistani market. In Karachi, for instance, it’s near impossible to find a Pakistani who doesn’t have strong views on the K-serials, or hasn’t picked a favourite Khan from amongst Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman. While Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar is playing across theatres in Karachi, giant hoardings of Indian reality TV shows like Bigg Boss tower over Pakistan’s financial capital. A couple of years ago, Ghajini haircuts were in vogue, too. And the likes of Balika Vadhu and Bade Achhe Lagte Hain have sent TRPs soaring across Pakistan. For many Pakistanis, India is already their Most Favoured Nation (MFN).
The editor of a widely read English daily in Pakistan calls himself a victim of Hindi serials. Every night, at precisely the busiest hour for any newspaper, his chief reporter would disappear. “I was furious and kept asking him where he had been. It took me a while to discover that he went home each day to watch Hindi serials. When I asked him why he didn’t watch the replay the next morning, he said he did that, too,” he laughed. Weddings are often postponed till late in the evening to avoid clashing with prime-time Hindi soap operas. “Pakistani women are so deeply influenced by the clothes and jewellery worn in Hindi soaps that they want the same for their own weddings,” said Gulbadan Javed, a social activist from Hyderabad, Sindh. Javed’s children and mother-in-law religiously watch Star Plus from 8:00 pm onwards each night. Rozina Jonejo, also from Hyderabad, said her mother-in-law enjoys watching Hindi serials although she does not understand the language. “She asks her daughter to translate the serial for her. She often asks us why the saas in a particular serial is scolding the bahu,” said Rozina.
It should come as little surprise, then, that Hindi words have crept into Pakistani vocabulary. Rozina is amused that her young son, an avid viewer of Hindi serials, has picked up words like ‘namaste’ and ‘maharani’.
Ikram Mughal from Karachi was surprised to hear his daughter say “Papa aap chinta mat keejiye”, with the word ‘chinta’ replacing ‘fikr’, the more common Urdu word for worry. Mughal himself is a staff reporter for Super Star Dust, a popular Urdu magazine on Bollywood. A picture of John Abraham is splashed across the cover of a recent issue.
Bollywood trivia is as popular in Pakistan as in India, with many keeping tabs on the lives and loves of the film stars. “Out here, Aamir Khan is known as the ‘chocolaty hero’, whereas Salman is known to have affairs with many women and then leave them,” said a young man.
While the average Indian may not know of Shah Rukh Khan (SRK)’s Pathan origins, a number of Pakistanis are mighty proud of it. Karachi resident Izzat Khan, an ardent SRK fan, recalled that during a job stint in Malaysia, he was often asked if he was related to King Khan, with whom he shares a surname. “I would tell them he is from my neighbourhood, as he comes from the same province,” said the proud Pathan.
But Shah Rukh is not the only hero worshipped in Pakistan. A bunch of young women in Karachi wanted me to “give Salman Khan a hug” on their behalf. Meanwhile, Maqsooda Solangi, a social activist with the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum, is a diehard member of the Aamir camp, for she likes his socially relevant brand of cinema. And while Madhuri Dixit may have a tough time re-entering Bollywood, for Izzat Khan, no actress in recent times can match the beauty and grace of the Dhak Dhak girl.
That Bollywood and soaps have shaped the popular Pakistani perception of India may have much to do with how favourably the ordinary Pakistani views Indians. Visitors to Pakistan are known to be overwhelmed by the warmth and hospitality shown by their hosts. Immigration officers get particularly chatty when they see an Indian passport. An official at the Karachi airport took one look at the surname on my passport and wanted to know if there was any connection with Rani Mukherji, whom he admires greatly.
The mehmaan nawaazi is visible on the streets of Karachi, where even posh, branded shops give big discounts to Indians. A chaat stall owner in Saddar insisted on providing free soft drinks to a bunch of young women when he learnt they were Indians. Like many Sindhis in India who yearn for their homeland, the chaat wala longed to visit his homeland in Gujarat, where his family lived before Partition.
DOSA MIX: India’s influence on Pakistani culture extends beyond cinema and soaps. Take the humble dosa, which has travelled a long way from its home in South India to the restaurants of Sindh, which serve the Chicken Cheese Dosa and Qeema Dosa.
While a Hindu name coupled with a Muslim surname would suggest mixed parentage in India, names such as Sharmila, Sapna and even Sudharak are very popular amongst Muslims in Pakistan.
Indian literature, including books on Madhubala and AR Rahman, line the walls of bookshops; at many clothes shops in Karachi, shopkeepers are heard bragging about material that has been imported from India
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