Adil Najam
PIA print advertisement from the 1960s (Originally uploaded by PakPositive.com which is a blog that highlights the positives aspects of Pakistan).
Let me continue with the ‘Image Pakistan’ theme in choosing the picture for today. I find this advert for PIA absolutely fascinating; both for what it says about how PIA (Pakistan International Airlines) saw itself and how it saw Pakistan (or wanted Pakistan to be seen).
Was this the reality of Pakistan before theso-called ‘darhi wallahs’ took center stage? Or was this ‘image’ of Pakistan as much out-of-sync with the reality of what was Pakistan then, as the image of the bearded-gun-totting-bomb- throwing-jihadi-Pakistani is today?
Speaking of ‘image’ and ‘brand’ the Association of Pakistani Professionals (AOPP) has recently launched an initiative on the subject and held a thoughtful and thought-provoking event on he subject in New York on June 3. I was asked to moderate part of the program, and found the discussion to be mature, reasoned and reasonable–something we should have more of.
@Sahar Humayun:Which culture of Pakistan preaches Exposing of female body.Which religion on earth permits a woman to be present as a ‘pleasureable toy’? Maybe that so called pathetic secularism permits it?
*shocked*
Dr. Shaheen Iqbal qazi,How Exposing a woman’s body make any state TOLERENT??
THE US should be considered most tolerant nation on earth than?What an absurd relation of exposing with tolerence.
Yes, the ad is just an ad. But the fact that we could have this ad for the national carrier is telling. It does not mean that women in Pakistan looked all like this. Normal women never look like models anywhere. It does mean that we were more open to multiple views on things. I think we are again becoming that and the Zia shadow is slowly lifting. Aameen.
Assalam-o-Alaikum,
Assuming that this string of discussion hasn’t gone cold, i’d like to add my two-cents worth. Associating a country or a nation with Islam limits Islam into boundaries, which it certainly is not meant to be. I, for one, do not associate the “Pakistani Image” with the “Islamic Image”. They are two different entities, one being a country, with a particular culture, a particular people, a few languages and heritage, etc. Islam, on the other hand, does not belong to one culture, people, language, heritage, etc.
Just as not every Pakistani is a Muslim, not every Muslim is a Pakistani. Rather, they both contribute a bit to each other’s image. Islam encompasses more than just Pakistan, and “Pakistaniant” also, is not primarily defined by Islam, whether anyone likes it or not.
As for the image, it’s an advertisement, meant to sell. As a journalism major, i can frankly say, depending on the audience, it serves its purpose – it attracts the eye, it entices the reader into reading the message, and more likely than not, retain it.
And last but not least, I think the question should have been limited to the media’s freedom in Pakistan in the ’60s rather than crediting this picture as a symbol of Pakistan (image, freedom, etc.) in that era. Very few pictures can grasp the multidimensional existence of a people in such totality. So I guess, i’m kinda saying that this picture is not symbolic of Pakistan in the ’60s, though my reasons are different from it being unIslamic or Liberal.
The picture was, and is pretty much irrelevant to Pakistan or PIA. Probably some kinky fella in PIA management had one too many and clipped a still out of photo session with some wanna be model ….. Tattoos, piercing and all. In sober hours he realized his folly and ordered the publicity department to crop everything out except the face!.