LAHORE - The walled city of Lahore is illuminated with lights and national flags strewn along the narrow streets ahead of Pakistan’s 70th Independence Day celebrations. Stalls are set up where children are buying flags, and among all the rest, hidden in the chaos, there are story-tellers.
Muhammad Ashraf, 40, is a flute-player in Roop Band Qalandri, part of a wedding band that runs out of a shop at Nawaz Sharif Market near Yaki Gate. He stands outside playing patriotic tunes ahead of Independence Day, singing in the company of a few friends.
“I do not usually get any work on Independence Day, but that does not undermine my spirit to celebrate,” he says, smiling.
His shop is full of music instruments, but he loves the flute.
“It’s been 40 years in this business. I can never forget the message of my teacher, Faqeer Hussain of Okara, who taught me the lessons of music and patriotism,” he says. “He had witnessed independence. He had given refuge to the refugees coming from Indian Punjab. He often told us those horrible tales.”
Sometimes Ashraf goes weeks without finding work, but it does not impact his passion for his instrument, and for Pakistan.
“I grew up in this place and I love this place. We will remain in Pakistan through thick and thin,” he says.
Iftikhar Hussain, 26, sells the national flag, green coloured T-shirts and head bands outside Phoolon Wali Gali (flower street) inside Dehli Gate.
Normally he is a tailor, but when August comes around, he is a seller of all things patriotic, especially flags.
“Independence is a blessing and every year residents of Dehli Gate celebrate with complete zeal,” he says.
Sheikh Allaudin, 75, runs a bag shop in front of the Wazir Khan mosque.
“We have seen the history of Pakistan with our own eyes. Our fathers told us the tales of refugees coming from Indian Punjab and elsewhere. People of the walled city of Lahore welcomed these refugees, and provided them with food and shelter,” he says proudly.
Syed Ishtiaq Hussain, 63, is a resident of Bhati Gate, and sips tea in front of Javed Manzil, home of the great poet Allama Muhammad Iqbal.
“My father told me that the population was equally divided into Sikh, Hindu and Muslim neighbourhoods inside Bhati Gate, Bazaar Hakeema. When the riots erupted after the boundary commission was announced on August 17, 1947, there was bloodshed on all sides. Friends became foes all of a sudden,” he says.
“When the bloodshed started, so many people took refuge in the Imam Bara of Syed Maratab Ali Shah,” Ishtiaq Hussain says.
With another sip of his strong Pakistani tea, he sighs. “There are so many thousands of stories present in the streets of this walled city.”