Killing art

Following in the footsteps of one legend can be difficult, let alone a whole family of legends, but Amjad Farid Sabri pulled it off with aplomb – emulating the powerful vocals of his legendary father, the late Ghulam Farid Sabri. Not only was he as powerful a qawwal as anyone else around, Amjad Sabri, like the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, tirelessly spread the gospel of his art form. There was no crowd that excited him more than one filled with students and he tried to appeal to the next generation by performing regularly on television shows and by bringing a more modern sound to this traditional art form. Especially during Ramazan, he would be busy tirelessly performing at qawwalis nearly every night and singing his heart out in television shows during the day. For such an icon, Sabri was surprisingly approachable, witty and always had a mischievous smile accompanying his long locks and gold earring. He lived his entire life in the Karachi neighbourhood of Liaquatabad and, sadly, that is where his life was brutally cut short. The tens of thousands who attended his funeral – unprecedented in recent memory – showed the love he invoked in people. Who would want to extinguish a life so precious? All we know for certain so far is that he was shot dead by men on motorcycles near his home. Amidst several conflicting speculations, a breakaway faction of the TTP is also being said to have claimed responsibility for the attack. That claim has not been authenticated – and perhaps won’t be. Militant groups have a habit of taking credit for attacks they have not carried out. Yet, there is no mistaking the fact that the curse of fanaticism has been nurtured on all levels and in many dark shapes in our society. Many are so blinded by hate that they would rather murder than bear the thought of someone doing something they disapprove of.

No matter who is ultimately responsible for Sabri’s death, in Karachi there is no shortage of forces, groups and elements whose only resort is to violence for promoting their ends. In the complex cauldron of conflicting ethnic, racial, sectarian, political and institutional interests that Karachi has been turned into, the possible motives of Sabri’s murder are quite a few and any investigation worth the name should not confine itself to lazy speculations about just one possible dimension. Murderous criminality has grown and those responsible for it have hardly ever been truly apprehended. This is obviously a failure of law-enforcement. But how much hope can there be of this being otherwise where an inhuman act of mass murder like the Baldia Town factory affair can be used only to muddy the political waters a bit more for different actors to pursue their designs? This is just one example from the countless many. Sabri’s murder should lead at least to a moment of reflection – by those who have not nurtured and patronised assassins – as to what we have allowed our country and, this city, to become.