This two part show was aired on Tuesday 1st August and again on the 7th at 21.00. The show was, on the surface, exactly what the title says, a Pakistani adventure. Saira Khan travelled all over from Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore to Kashmir. However, this show was no ordinary holiday show that you might see on Channel 4 or Sky Travel. It was produced for a specific purpose.
The overwhelming factor of the show was that Saira was constantly commenting on aspects of life through Western eyes. In fact she seemed to be analysing every scenario through feminist eyes. For example, she decided to travel to the north of Pakistan towards the Himalayas. These parts of the country are obviously extremely remote areas where the only sign of life are those truck drivers who work on these routes.
She decided to take a break at a truck stop where she began to comment on the lack of a female presence! Does she expect to see women singing and dancing in the middle of nowhere? She then sat down and shouted the owners to bring her some tea, even though it was clear to see that this was a self service kind of place. As she sipped her tea she began her monologue to the camera. “All the men seem to be staring at me” she complained.
They were looking at her in bemusement as to why she was there. Not only that but she is in a predominantly Muslim country and she was not dressed too modestly by their standards and also had her tom boy hair all out. Even someone who was not of Asian origin would have had a little more understanding.
Examples like this went on and on. She visited an “artist” who only painted prostitutes. He revealed his secret collection which was in effect pornography. Ms Khan commented how beautiful it was and that he should not be shunned by the government and wider society. Again she was looking through Western eyes and did not take into account the culture and tradition of the country.
The show took a sinister turn when she was given a seat with the murderer himself, President Musharraf. How can a woman on a trip around Pakistan get a seat with the President when so many have failed? I later found that this was due to the ideas that she was pushing. Pakistan is a liberal, democratic country and that’s what the people want. Islam has no part to play in politics or in the day to day affairs of the country.
This idea was emphasized when Saira went to visit Sufi shrines such as Dada Darbar where men sing Qawali until the crowds are stirred up into a frenzy of dancing and convulsing. This kind of celebration was portrayed as worship and the “true” version of Islam. The very same kind of Islam that is pushed by the British Government advisers, The Sufi Muslim Council.
This was the agenda of the producers and the presenter.
The overwhelming factor of the show was that Saira was constantly commenting on aspects of life through Western eyes. In fact she seemed to be analysing every scenario through feminist eyes. For example, she decided to travel to the north of Pakistan towards the Himalayas. These parts of the country are obviously extremely remote areas where the only sign of life are those truck drivers who work on these routes.
She decided to take a break at a truck stop where she began to comment on the lack of a female presence! Does she expect to see women singing and dancing in the middle of nowhere? She then sat down and shouted the owners to bring her some tea, even though it was clear to see that this was a self service kind of place. As she sipped her tea she began her monologue to the camera. “All the men seem to be staring at me” she complained.
They were looking at her in bemusement as to why she was there. Not only that but she is in a predominantly Muslim country and she was not dressed too modestly by their standards and also had her tom boy hair all out. Even someone who was not of Asian origin would have had a little more understanding.
Examples like this went on and on. She visited an “artist” who only painted prostitutes. He revealed his secret collection which was in effect pornography. Ms Khan commented how beautiful it was and that he should not be shunned by the government and wider society. Again she was looking through Western eyes and did not take into account the culture and tradition of the country.
The show took a sinister turn when she was given a seat with the murderer himself, President Musharraf. How can a woman on a trip around Pakistan get a seat with the President when so many have failed? I later found that this was due to the ideas that she was pushing. Pakistan is a liberal, democratic country and that’s what the people want. Islam has no part to play in politics or in the day to day affairs of the country.
This idea was emphasized when Saira went to visit Sufi shrines such as Dada Darbar where men sing Qawali until the crowds are stirred up into a frenzy of dancing and convulsing. This kind of celebration was portrayed as worship and the “true” version of Islam. The very same kind of Islam that is pushed by the British Government advisers, The Sufi Muslim Council.
This was the agenda of the producers and the presenter.
1 comments:
I watched parts of both shows and it all went in line with the governments plan to implement by force their ideas on the muslim people all over the middle east and pakistan was just one example. We can see clearly from events such as the red mosque example and many other examples all over the muslim world that these shows fall in line with the governments agenda to remove the image of shariah attached to the muslim world and the call for Islamic law to be implemented over the muslim people.
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