That Obscenity Bug

MAY 2004 - There is a new and utterly useless silly bill travelling up the Punjab government windpipe. Called the Public Performances (Regulation) Act 2004, this bill is due to be presented in that House on the Mall where overweight men swathed in miles of starched shalwars and kurtas lord over the affairs of the Province. This new bill will allow the government to monitor, regulate and control public performances and prohibit those that are obscene, scandalous, defamatory and seditious. An inspector armed with this law will have the power to enter without warrant any public place, break open any door or any other obstacle to such entry in case of resistance, seize any item at the place of performance as evidence of foul play and generally create conditions of extreme havoc. The ones who earn the wrath of the high priests of morality can receive a jail sentence of up to two years and a fine of up to Rs.100,000. The icing on this smelly cake is that the do-gooders who will go bananas with this lopsided legislation will be none others than the public’s best friends – the police and the magistracy. Not since Bonnie & Clyde have two equally twisted forces joined hands. The stew these two will cook up should keep everyone trembling in fear for a long, long time.

The police in this part of the world are now beyond anyone’s control. Having been created to identify and catch criminals, they have, in a cruel twist themselves become criminals. Having tasted blood, they can no longer be satiated by anything other than more blood. A recent report that has gone largely unnoticed, states that in the period 1994-2003, there has been a 20% overall increase in all crime. Dacoities have increased by 50% in this period and robberies are up 42%. Just reported crimes last year were a staggering 399,508. We all know how many crimes simply go unreported. Over 350,000 people have been murdered in the last decade and so it goes on. This is the awful reality of life in Pakistan where killing and robbing is virtually unaccountable. Honour killings are a fearsome number on their own. Rapes break graph lines and acid throwing and killing by kerosene stoves is a favourite pastime. All those who break the law know fully well that they have excellent chances at getting off free. It is now established that the country’s police stations are dens of torture and everything that represents the worst bestiality of man is here.

The stories are endless and bitter. One gory episode is merely replaced with another and another. Hardly anyone from the police suffers for the brutalities they inflict on their so-called brothers and sisters. Both guilty and innocent alike who venture into the precincts of the stations, seldom escape without a scar. For the amount of lives lost, the police have never paid a price. What’s despairing is it will never change. With the new politicos gaining control over the rotting police body, citizens can safely expect more cruelty, more sadism and more mayhem. As for the magistrates, they thrive whenever public processions have to be lathi-charged, tear-gassed, baton-assaulted, arrested and packed like animals into crowded jails. They have a pretty dismal public record and have always fallen short of above board behaviour. If they look a little more humane than the police, it is simply they haven’t got the kind of brute force and weaponry that makes the police so frightening. However, it is well known that whenever they are entrusted with duties they invariably make a mess of it. Public functions such as cricket matches, concerts and fairs have always suffered because the magistracy rather than doing their job, simply break all rules. Open smuggling of friends and relatives into functions without paying a cent is now a deep-rooted conviction of all who represent this force.

Therefore, placing these two, tried, tested and discarded public functionaries with the nebulous and open to complete misrepresentation laws such as the Public Performance Act can only mean that the methods of coercion, suppression and downright exploitation of the people will rise significantly. The dubious ‘obscenity’ factor of this proposed law will lead to large-scale abuse of people’s basic rights with no one to redress the wrongs. This society’s fascination with obscenity has crossed all limits. Many people, particularly those in power, see obscenity in every twig and every stone. This zeal for purging society of social ills is farcical. No one can quite agree with what is or is not obscenity. Some of the lies that the leaders tell the people are obscene, yet it wins them votes and gets them into power. All guns are trained on hounding people and identifying acts that are immoral, vulgar and seditious. Under the proposed laws, putting a play, concert or cultural event will become impossible. With such narrow-minded and purposeless legislation, all we will accomplish is increased frustration, violence and further breakdown of our society. With the sweeping powers being awarded to the police and the magistrates and the elimination of useless appendages such as warrants, there will be more corruption, payoffs and jagga taxes.

It is amazing to realize that while the country cries out for solutions on many, many fronts and the soaring prices and dwindling job opportunities are creating another country within this one, where revenge and settling scores will be the credo, the rulers and thousands of officials are completely indifferent about the stark realities of life on the streets of Pakistan. Instead of looking after so many key and critical areas of public life, they spend their time working out what is and is not obscene. Ironically such thinking itself is obscene. Every non-issue becomes an issue. Every crackpot has his day and harebrained, stupid schemes get enthusiastic approvals and funding. Basic responsibilities are simply dealt with summarily at best and completely ignored at worst. The cities need sanitation so they get Bab-e-Pakistan. Stinking rivers of sewerage are choking our cities but all we can think of us is another fountain or another underpass. We have massive law and order problems but the answer is to plan more Food Streets. And so it goes on.

The country’s few struggling performing arts do not need more regulation and more mind control goon squads that have zero track records and appalling human rights violations. To let them loose on the public under the garb of morality cleaners, is going to affect all of us in ways far more serious than we can imagine. The government needs to let go. The people have always demonstrated good sense given half the chance. Herding them like cattle will create a whiplash one day, which will be the end of those who now believe they are immortal. Organising a show is a nightmare as things stand. Everyone and his uncle must give approvals and assorted NOCs before anything is allowed. Time and again, written commitments and undertakings have been denied and even after money changing hands, promises made are routinely broken. Virtually anyone who is anyone must give his puny stamp of approval before anything can move half an inch. No liberal arts can survive. The new law will kill whatever spark there still exists in the minds and hearts of the people. Those who are advising the Punjab Chief Minister that this bill must be made a law, are no friends of his or of the people. It is a misguided and mischievous document, which should be buried before it buries us.