Manto Festival closes with messages of positivity

Lahore : The Manto Festival, which was held at Alhamra Hall in Lahore concluded on Wednesday evening. The two-day gala saw performances presented by various theatre groups from across the city.

Maas Foundation’s play Yeh Tha Manto received much applause. Khol Do is a story that is dramatised and highlighted in Yeh Tha Manto. It was set back in 1947 and focused on rape victims during Partition.

The short story is told through the eyes of Sirajuddin, whose daughter Sakina goes missing when the train they were travelling on is attacked by rioters who raped innocent girls during looting. Sirajuddin asks some social workers in Pakistan to form a search party for his daughter. It turns out that upon finding her, the social workers go on to rape her too, leaving Sakina to die near the refugee camp Sirajuddin is staying in.

The concluding scene, wherein Sakina lays barely conscious in the doctor’s office, expecting to be raped again, is particularly evocative of the trauma of the victims whose perpetrators were men within their own communities.