Is BANNING the solution?

Banning culture is becoming a trend in Pakistan. How? Here is how:

Churails is Pakistan’s first-ever crime thriller series which was released two months ago for streaming on the OTT platform Zee5. The web series revolves around female empowerment with distinctive plots and a quirky timeline. It is a story of four empowered women who create a gang to revolt against injustices served to women in a criminally patriarchal society. Now, Churails has been removed for viewing in Pakistan. It was banned after a short clip surfaced on the social media which has some obscene statements that is why it become unacceptable for the masses. The series has been getting numerous accolades internationally but has not gone down well with conservative segments in Pakistan, who feel its bold content does not align with Pakistan’s cultural values.

Last week, Pakistan has also banned popular short video app TikTok, because it has “immoral and indecent” content. The move comes months after some people complaint about the nature of some videos and the impact they have on society. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the country’s telecommunication authority, said in a statement Friday evening that despite the warnings and months-long time, TikTok “failed to comply with the instructions, therefore, directions were issued for blocking of TikTok application in the country.” The authority had received a “number of complaints from different segments of the society” over the videos, it said.

A few days ago Mehwish Hayat starrer TVC for the Gala biscuit ad was on air. It was a standard ad marketed and promoted as per the brand’s usual style. The rather loud and colorful ad, which would’ve been ignored and forgotten by the audience if it was left alone, raised to popularity when PEMRA suddenly decided to ban it; citing reasons that were as ridiculous as the presentation of the advertisement itself. However, a ban by PEMRA made sure that the ad trended all over social media. It became a conversation topic both online and in the drawing rooms.

All these bans in the recent days have been met with conflicting reactions by the public. There is no denying that the media practitioners and artist community are not happy with the way PEMRA has been dealing with the expression of art across our media platforms. An official regulatory authority encouraging people with such a mentality that calls for banning anything that does not conform to their ideas of culture, religion, aesthetics, or art, just sets up dangerous precedents.

This banning trend, threatens the arts of a country where any form of cultural or artistic expression could be banned from reaching the people. It is a particularly dangerous and sad trend in a country like Pakistan that is said to be at the crossroads of transforming into a more accepting and moderate society after a long and troubled period of unrest and extremism. What needs to be “banned” is the extremist mindset that has given birth to the elements of disruption in society. Instead of banning why not make reforms to make these things better?

 

by: Abeer Arshad 

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