
Courtesy: NY Times
On Tuesday, July 20, Ambassador Hussain Haroon and the Pakistani Peace Builders Initiative hosted the 1st Annual NY Sufi Festival, a free three-hour concert held in the city’s Union Square. According to the NY Times, the Pakistani Peace Builders, an organization formed after the failed Times Square bombing by Faisal Shahzad, “seeks to counteract negative images of Pakistan by presenting a longtime Pakistani Islamic tradition that preaches love, peace and tolerance.” Below, Sehar Tariq, who just completed her Master’s in Public Policy from Princeton University (and is about to return home to Pakistan) and blogs at Sehar Says, discusses her experience at the concert:
In 2001, when two planes crashed into the World Trade Center located in the heart of America’s financial capital, New York City – Pakistan was catapulted from near anonymity to infamy within a matter of days. When I arrived in the United States for the first time to attend college in August 2001, many people did not know where Pakistan was. I often had to describe it as the country right next to India. In a matter of one month, I did not need that explanation any more. And while my Pakistani pride had cringed at being described as the country next to India, in the fateful days following 9/11, I wished to go back to that simple explanation of my homeland instead of the rabid, angry and intolerant one I saw each day on television screens in the United States.
Since 9/11, Pakistan has suffered more so than even the United States at the hands of terrorists both in economic and social terms as well as sheer body count but somehow, despite all its suffering, it has been unable to rid itself of the label of a terrorist state. The U.S. media has not helped much in this regard either. Their obsessive focus on hate mongers ignores the millions that yearn and work for peace as well as the thousands who have given up their lives, not just in their homeland but in the countries of those that they will never meet. Caught between the drones and the begging bowl, Pakistanis, despite their best efforts, were unable to come up with an effective response to challenge the dominant image of the country in the United States.
The recent incident of Faisal Shahzad only reminded Americans and New Yorkers in particular, who had been at the epicenter of the violent 9/11 attacks, of the damage that a man blinded by hate can wreak. And even though Pakistanis in America were quick with condemnations of the incidents, one man’s actions spoke a lot louder than the voices of thousands who are a peaceful and productive part of the American fabric. So we who lived here, lowered our heads and gritted our teeth and prepared for more difficult times to come for brown-skinned believers. And life went on with increased searches at airports and impassioned defenses of the Pakistan that we love and call home but not to any great effect.
Sometimes, the voices of hate and fear are more potent and powerful than the ones of reason and rationale, unless the voice of reason is being sung by Abida Parveen, the Faqirs from the Shrine of Sachal Sarmast or the talented Baloch singer from Kalat. For so many years, Pakistanis tried to politick their way into the good graces of Americans but with limited effectiveness. There were many high brow events conducted in the power centers of New York and Washington DC to introduce an alternate image of Pakistan to powerful Americans. But if the current state of affairs is to go by, none of this has been very effective. Mistrust runs deep within the American government of the Pakistani establishment and fear can be seen in the eyes of ordinary Americans at the sight of bearded men – unless they happen to be Akhtar Chanal Zehri and they endear themselves to all of New York with their indomitable stage presence, their soulful voice and their graceful dancing.
The Sufi Music Festival held in New York’s Union Square, has probably done more diplomacy for Pakistan in the three hours that it lasted than all the work being put in by our missions in the US for the last ten years. On a bright and rather hot and humid summer day, a large crowd had collected to hear the much awaited performers from Pakistan. Featuring an eclectic blend of modern fusion music in the form of Zeb and Haniya and the Meekal Hassan Band to the more traditional singing at Sufi shrines in the form of Abida Parveen, the Sufi Festival boasted an impressive line up of performers. Friends drove for hours to see this concert. We arrived early and positioned ourselves in a convenient place with a good view. And there was a large enough crowd already present.
The concert kicked off on time and Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, who was instrumental in organizing it, introduced the concert to the people of New York as Pakistan’s present to New Yorkers in the wake of the Faisal Shahzad incident. Speeches were kept to a minimum and the focus remained on the performers. The concert opened with the soulful singing of Zeb and Haniya and then moved on to the classical singing of Rafaqat Ali Khan. This was followed by the more upbeat Meekal Hassan Band and then the brightly dressed faqirs from the shrine of Sachal Sarmast followed with an energetic performance. This led to my most favorite act of the evening, Akhtar Chanal Zehri – who the average New Yorker would probably run away from in fear. His face is framed with a thick, dark beard and his eyes are lined with dark kohl. His strong clear voice reciting the melodic lyrics boomed over New York in absolutely perfect melodic harmony as he twirled like a whirling dervish lost in the beat of the music and in his devotion to God. And then came Abida Parveen, undoubtedly one of the greatest singers of the sub-continent. Her performance was breath-taking.
I have no words to describe what it felt like to stand in the very heart of New York City and see hundreds of heads nod to the beat and clap to the tunes of centuries-old religious poetry. When we had first arrived and taken up our positions, the park was about half full, but by the time Abida Parveen took stage, there was not an inch of space to stand on or dance in – so packed was the once open space of Union Square. Thousands of hands clapped to the rhythms of Abida’s mesmerizing songs and hundreds of people broke into loud spontaneous chants of Ali Maula and Mast Qalandar. It seemed as if all of New York was reverberating with the beat of drums and dhols from the subcontinent spreading the message of love, peace and devotion to humanity. I have never seen such a sight in the city. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. As my little Pakistani heart was overflowing with pride, it couldn’t help but be sad about why we could no longer preach and practice the traditions of our Sufi saints and carry on the great intellectual debates captured in their poetry for fear of vengeance by the puritanical brigade who are leaving no stone unturned in the effort to alienate us from our rich cultural heritage.
It was a magical New York day, as people from across the sub-continent, from across the city, and all over the country, came to hear the messages of love and peace, written hundreds of years ago by our Sufi saints. And it was also refreshing to read a piece in The New York Times about Pakistan that was not about what an intolerant and violent country we are. It was nice to hear the words of those saints spoken louder than the words of those satans who murder the innocent and hog the limelight. What I liked best was that for once, concerned citizens in New York (who have formed a group called the Pakistani Peace Builders) brought the songs of saints to all of New York in an event that was free and open to the public. This was aggressive and impressive public diplomacy at its best and this is what Pakistan and Pakistanis living in the United States need more of in order to drown out the cacophony of hate mongers. I hope New York will continue to witness the brilliance, richness and sheer genius of Pakistani culture with greater frequency, not just behind closed doors catering to the elite but reaching out to all of New York and all of the world.
And while I hope such public events continue with greater frequency, I cannot help but be sad at not being able to be a part of them anymore as I leave for Pakistan this week. But I will always take with me the immense pride I felt as I stood amidst a sea of people from all over the world who clapped with one beat and sang in one voice the songs of our saints and their message of peace and love. It was inspirational.
The contribution is the sole opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the opinion of CHUP. If you would like to contribute a piece to CHUP, please email Kalsoom at changinguppakistan[at]gmail[dot]com. Pieces should be no longer than 800 words please. For past contributions, click here.
Dear Sehar,
My partner Zeyba Rahman and I want to thank you for this piece. You totally understood what we were doing and more importantly why we were doing this.
The response to PPB’s message and the Sufi Festival is clearly the beginning of something larger and we hope that people like you and Kalsoom (as well as all the wonderful Facebook friends of our Group and Event pages who responded similarly to the idea and came out to stand with us in person or spirit in Union Square) will be a part of the future of the movement we have begun.
Please get in touch!
thanks,
Mahnaz
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Hi,
Only a drop of cynide in the water will you drink it. Even if the water is not poisoned you will not touch it. That is the sitution of the world people with regard to the islamic fundamentalism. Every body nows that 99% are good but how do u identify the one percent who is among you and also who looks and behaves like 99%.
Best is the newyork incidence, will anybody think in the wild imagination a well educated person who got his citizen ship will do this.
Great Write-up Sehar & Kalsoom you rocks for bringing the best pieces for us together, Thanks for doing that.
Since you have compared here with 99 good to 1 percent bad, I would like to throw a question here(If I may), and if you guys can do a poll(just to know your opinion):
Would you book Hafiz Saeed and his team including ISI for Mumbai 26/11 for killing 160+ innocent/ armless/90% good ones/women/children and bring him to justice?
Now look at this videos and tell me what a 90% good from rest of the world can do if these things happens *ONLY* in Pakistan ?
Kalsoom, you have to see kAy’s post on this. Its a bit more personal! But its a great perspective.
http://lifemeansdrama.blogspot.com/2010/07/she-came-she-rocked-she-left.html
Thanks Khizzy!
Kay’s piece was really touching and a great perspective as well 🙂 I wish I had been there!
Great post, and am very happy to see that such an event was set up and that it attracted as many people as it did.
One question thats been on my mind is why its taken so long for such an event to be organised, or at least such a high profile one, by the pakistani community rather than by the politicians. If its a response to the deteriorating image of Pakistan then its almost 9 years overdue …
The reason I ask is because i currently live in London and am suprised at how little i see Pakistani’s stand up to demonstrate the beauty of their culture and the fact that they should not be judged by the actions of the few.
Is there a way to spur the Pakistani community to do such events more often?
Good question Paolo, and I think the Pakistani community has been lackluster at providing a united front in promoting a better image of Pakistan, or maybe they’re just not very good at marketing since we haven’t heard as much about them. I do think following this event and the launch of the Pakistan Peacebuilders, more communities should take note and follow suit.
Guys,
Stop over reacting!! How much of Natak you guys do in the name of music and crap for the world peace, no one can believe you. It is not in the streets of Newyork you need to go and sing, but at Lal Masjid or your brother Mr.Laden’s tent.
Brilliant post! I’ve lived in NYC for three years now and have had an amazing time so far (yet to experience any prejudice or racism). Have to admit that this concert will be one my favorite memories of the city. The musicians were absolutely brilliant, however, what made the afternoon magical was the people coming together with a love for Pakistan that became increasingly apparent with each performance.