Pakis party over provincial poll returns
It is not exactly “Beach Blanket Babylon,” but the people in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier got back to boogeyin’ after the latest election.In the bazaars and on the streets, change is already visible - and audible. Though the Islamic law bill that the hardliners passed in the provincial parliament was blocked at national level, the clerics were able to ban music in public places or on public transport. Now the sounds of local Pashtun folk music and Punjabi Bhangra are back - first in the street celebrations every evening last week, and then as the province's thousands of bus drivers once again slipped a cassette or CD into the stereos of their overloaded and over-decorated vehicles. 'Now I have music, I love my job again,' said Ashraf Mohmandi, one of the local drivers. 'I can breathe once more.'Maybe even better than Darfur.
For many businessmen the relief is huge. The province's once vibrant entertainment industry has languished for the past five years. With a ban on any advertising showing women, let alone the traditional busty girl with a gun that was once a staple of the traditional giant, luridly painted billboards, the Peshawar film industry, 'Pollywood', has suffered. The province's DVD and CD shops were banned from advertising their wares and became the target of hardcore militants' home-made bombs, which killed dozens of sellers and customers.
'It's a real change for the better,' said Shahbaz Pashtun, who has run a DJ service for weddings and parties since 1999. 'The relief was enormous. Business has been terrible.' Sikander Imran, one of Pashtun's clients, spoke of the 'vibrant underground music scene' in Peshawar. 'Hopefully it will become a bit more overground now,' he said.
In a nearby crowded cafe, three Afghan students proudly claimed to be the first 'tourists' to visit Peshawar under the 'new regime'. 'It's better than Afghanistan,' said Abdullah Mati, 21.--Guardian-Observer/UK
posted by Tom Nadeau at 7:06 AM
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