The evolution of Pakistan’s Independence Day celebrations
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Independence Day celebrations in Pakistan didn’t look the way they do now, during the first quarter of the century. There is a real shift from the tradition where the elite would make speeches on the genesis of Pakistan and the two-nation theory and glorified the struggle for independence. Now it is the youth from the middle-class and poor sections of society who are emotionally invested in the day, and have turned it into a big national festival.
I remember the old days when state institutions and state sponsored organizations used to organize events on August 14. Top cabinet members of sitting governments and prominent public intellectuals meticulously adoring the national dress would make speeches that the lone Pakistan television channel would record and show excerpts of in the evening news. The audience would be government servants and invited guests from the public.
Public enthusiasm, participation and involvement of the youth was scant, and mostly confined to the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami, which would organize a remarkable torch-bearing procession in the evening terminating at the Minar-e-Pakistan, the tower symbolizing winning freedom. It was a great show to watch, but more than that, the spirit, sentiment and excitement of the youth was quite inspiring to anyone watching on the side.
The official part of festivities is still orchestrated in the same fashion. Before sunset, we hear the sound of celebratory artillery fire. The President addresses the nation, and the Prime Minister sends a message. There is a big innovation in how the armed forces—the guardians of the state—organize festivity. For the past couple of decades, the venue has shifted to Pakistan Military Academy Kakul, established in October 1947. The ceremony begins around midnight. Young officers in meticulously done uniforms mounted on white horses lead the march past to the sound of martial bands. This salutary troop rally is the last event. The notable part is the speech by the Chief of Army Staff, which many observers and the political classes don’t miss. One can gauge much about civil-military relations, the security situation and critical foreign policy options, all carefully wrapped in the nuances of martial language. They invite a select group of politicians, journalists, businessmen, intellectuals and artists to attend the show. Prominent singers and actors perform in the midnight show. Television networks are bound to telecast live.
Ideological romanticism and political idealism defined the youth then. Theatre, sport and musical concerts are largely gone: it is now piety, patriotism and aimlessness.
Rasul Bakhsh Rais
The public part of Independence Day is livelier, colorful and has gradually shaped a unique popular culture stream and economic activity. With the beginning of August, vendors begin to display the national flag, badges, caps in flag colours and a variety of ornamental stuff for children. Most shops celebrate with weeks of big discounts-- the ‘Azaadi Sale.’ Among drivers on the roads, public transport vans and taxies compete for the bigger flag as they zip by. Children in every city insist on hoisting the flag to their rooftops, preferring to buy a new one. Conservationists dust off the ones from the previous years.
The electronic media covering the celebrations seems to have contributed to making a truly national event in every nook and corner of the country. In many places in rural areas, local people organize rallies, make speeches paying tributes to the founders, and distribute sweets at the end of the processions. The big show of the day begins in the afternoon, as we see thousands of young men swarming the city roads on noisy motorbikes. On this occasion, they take the silencers off, and have pillion riders on the rear seats. Traffic goes haywire. Those familiar with the traffic jams prefer not to venture out, leaving the streets and roads to the revellers.
As the sun sets, another type of celebration begins-- the sound of firecrackers from the streets and house-tops. Younger children insist parents stock up to outlast the rivals in the street. Many families display fireworks in the evening. Unceasing explosions keep lightening up the sky and sparks fall for hours. In recent years, the district administrations also arrange expensive fireworks, and before the pandemic, used to stage live folk music concerts in public parks.
The making of popular culture of August 14 celebrations merits a sociological investigation, particularly the factors varyingly contributing to it. In my view, it is a combination of shrunk entertainment space for the youth and general public beginning under General Zia in the 80’s, and the evolution of a martial culture in the shadow of the Soviet-Afghan war. Until then, Pakistan was an open, pluralistic, tolerant society where music, arts and cinema flourished. Nightclubs, bars, and tea houses hosting the literati and the famous were commonplace. Ideological romanticism and political idealism defined the youth then. Theatre, sport and musical concerts are largely gone: it is now piety, patriotism and aimlessness.
– Rasul Bakhsh Rais is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, LUMS, Lahore. His latest book is “Islam, Ethnicity and Power Politics: Constructing Pakistan’s National Identity” (Oxford University Press, 2017).
Twitter: @RasulRais
