The ‘other’ Pakistan: For the rich, by the rich?

When the ‘other’ Pakistanis are lacking in Pakistaniyat

“Of course, these opportunities are only available to very few.”

With a disclaimer like that at the very top who could possibly blame Zohra Bensemra for her brilliantly confusing photojournalistic piece.

For those of you who are not cool enough, here is the story: Recently, a popular newspaper in Pakistan chose to republish a piece from another popular international news source. The scoffs, eye rolls and “oh please” statements that followed were possibly not the sort of reaction that Zohra bibi would hope for. Her feel good piece is quite possibly a lesson in how feel good pieces can often backfire. What started out as an attempt to show the “other” side of Pakistan has turned into more of a spectacle that demands mockery.

Pakistan, through the lens of Zohra bibi, either has child brides or Porsche driving marketing managers. We either have elite millionaires or we have beggars. There are either the Taliban keeping us busy or we are left with the “ultra-chic international jet set”. What are missing, it would appear, are the real people. The silent and battered majority who is tired of possibly hearing about the two polar opposite extreme ends of the “other” group. The cool people who they could never be close to being. The weird people they could never really compete with. They are just real people with real lives that have nothing to do with the fancy folk that Zohra bibi chose to see through her camera. It seems like Zohra bibi needs a serious tête-à-tête with the Pakistani middle class — and more specifically, women from the Pakistani middle class.

As one browses through one image after the other of powerful and rich women doing powerful and rich things, one is at a loss for words. The piece is meant to project a specific image. The pictures within the piece have a certain message to send. Look at all these beautiful and successful women! Look at their privileged lives! Of course, everyone has heard of Malala and she just wants to help the middle class and the poor — but have we really heard of the rich girls trying to help the private education sector boom become a little more boomier? Who cares about Malala anyway when you have a private school for the children of the ultra chic? Of course Beaconhouse now has 150 schools and is about to open another branch on Mars, but it is yet to become affordable for the regular middleclass folk.

The piece continues on to talk about the horrible images of Pakistani’s burning American flags and how that is just not all that the country is about. The media does get it all wrong! But this photographer lady gets it wrong-er. Pakistan is not just about super rich women pretending Pakistan is America as they prance around in designer shoes and clothes, Pakistan is also about all those people that hate Amreeka with a passion but would sell their right kidney for a chance to move there.

But I digress… while I do concur that they are as Pakistani as anyone else, the piece then tells us more about the country that we really did not need to know. From a Pilates training queen to a kickboxing punk rock café owner, Pakistan has it all. This photojournalistic sensation shows us precisely liberated women who have never faced any class-based discrimination or any of the actual hard hitting oppression that most other women struggle against day in and day out. But wait, these women have to make sure their maids are their money’s worth.

The whole thing smacks of such downright romanticisation of classism that it nearly looks a satire. There is also the implicit tying of liberalism (or rather non-conservatism) with class when Zohra bibi eloquently points out how “affluent residents” have “worked out an alternative to conservatism” – while ignoring a large faction of people who have still done that without the class privilege.

Zohra bibi focuses on passionate and funny people just getting on with their lives. These passionate and funny women are also Pakistan, the other Pakistan. With their grand swimming pools and imported maids, these women are truly the ones that have broken the shackles of society, stereotypes, and stigmatisation combined. Move over Mukhtaran Mai, we have some new sheriffs in town.

Once the grand photojournalistic sensation i.e., Zohra bibi, is done talking about all these hot and amazing women with their rich and powerful lives, she actually does a U-turn and reminds us that Pakistan doesn’t have many more like this. These fine specimens are a dying breed, a small species that lives in its own world. The rest of Pakistan struggles and is poor — plain and simple. The ‘other’ side of Pakistan evidently only revolves around rich women doing rich things but the other side is actually quite insignificant and small.

I propose that we band together as a collective whole and get Zohra bibi ji some downtime with women who form the majority, the sweating mothers chasing after their A-grade students. The fierce journalists that have to work twice as hard to stay a step ahead of their male counterparts. The doctors who have to put up a real fight to stay at the hospital for their duties. The lawyers, policewomen, teachers, technicians, engineers, and just about everyone else who has actually built something from the ground up. The other Pakistan that Zohra bibi never saw is the other Pakistan that has some mighty fine women and really contrasts and stands out against the stereotypical image of Pakistan she is trying to bring into light — if only she would make the effort of getting to know them.

The writer believes in the women who work real hard to make a difference, and yet do not fall in the category of ‘other’ Pakistanis portrayed by Zohra bibi. You can get in touch with the writer at: [email protected]