The fashion industry in Pakistan is the bedrock for what is now known as Pakistani pop culture. It was created with a vision of creativity which encompassed mental emancipation and sexual liberation. It was never utilised as a tool through which people could gain 15 minutes of fame or worse, work towards the oppression of minorities or human rights or morally police a country.
This begs the question that why have members of the fashion industry taken to creating a potent mixture of religion, fashion, anti-minority stance? Case in point is that of Maria B.
Not getting into how she became a fashion designer or what her surname is but there is a need to question what her role is in the fashion industry. It was not very long ago that she decided to ‘wake up’ Lahore by partnering with Zaid Hamid because before that apparently the city of literature had been snoozing behind books and Karachi the city of lights had been dimly lit without her presence. Referring to Hamid as a ‘fakir’ who was only rich in thought… so rich that she could not tolerate it and distanced herself.
And now she has found a new cause which focuses on the khwaja Sira and transgender communities in which she has decided to uphold one and trample the other. Using a potent mixture of religion and morality she attempts to weave in science and law as well.
We’ve seen it before. The question is who are the supporters and consumers of this magic potion concocted by Maria B? Is this a new elixir? And what is to be gained via this ‘awareness’ and ‘debate’ that she claims to have set on social media?
If she is dedicated to saving the country as she claims, and that too in the name of religion, then targeting a specific community is not the way to do it. Rather there are age old religious wars that she could douse with her elixir. Will her supporters ask her to do that? Only then will there be solid ground upon which she stands otherwise the shifting sands of time will not be so kind.
This begs the question that why have members of the fashion industry taken to creating a potent mixture of religion, fashion, anti-minority stance? Case in point is that of Maria B.
Not getting into how she became a fashion designer or what her surname is but there is a need to question what her role is in the fashion industry. It was not very long ago that she decided to ‘wake up’ Lahore by partnering with Zaid Hamid because before that apparently the city of literature had been snoozing behind books and Karachi the city of lights had been dimly lit without her presence. Referring to Hamid as a ‘fakir’ who was only rich in thought… so rich that she could not tolerate it and distanced herself.
And now she has found a new cause which focuses on the khwaja Sira and transgender communities in which she has decided to uphold one and trample the other. Using a potent mixture of religion and morality she attempts to weave in science and law as well.
We’ve seen it before. The question is who are the supporters and consumers of this magic potion concocted by Maria B? Is this a new elixir? And what is to be gained via this ‘awareness’ and ‘debate’ that she claims to have set on social media?
If she is dedicated to saving the country as she claims, and that too in the name of religion, then targeting a specific community is not the way to do it. Rather there are age old religious wars that she could douse with her elixir. Will her supporters ask her to do that? Only then will there be solid ground upon which she stands otherwise the shifting sands of time will not be so kind.