t was reported in the media that the killer of Amjad Sabri has been arrested.

Amjad Sabri was gunned down in the prime of his career a few years ago. The killing left everyone aghast. Not that he was among the first to be murdered by unknown assailants. Most of the acts of crime go undetected and no conclusion is ever drawn on the motive. In this case too, the mystery surrounding the circumstances has lingered.

It is difficult to imagine what the artiste did in his life or work to instigate this kind of response. It is known that the performers are artistes and criticised for their work or performance. If there is an extreme reaction, they are boycotted and dropped from that charmed set. But to go to the extent of physically eliminating an artiste is a sure sign of cultural morbidity.

What did Amjad Sabri do that he was targeted and eliminated as a result? He was a qawwal, practicing the art form that was his inheritance and, like many other traditional performers, took great pride in his heritage with a desire to capitalise upon it. What is there in qawwali that should provoke a person to go to the extent of killing someone?

This is only an indication of how perverse this society has become. It is also a sign of great insecurity that the difference of view or practice is not tolerated and physical elimination is sought to bring about a desired uniformity of views and beliefs. The puritanical streak that has stalked this society over the past few decades has been the death knell of diversity and the flowering of a hundred flowers. Zealotry takes great pride in walking the straight and narrow to the path to salvation.

Qawwali is not a new form or an experimentation gone totally berserk. It has been part of our social fibre and artistic matrix and is almost as old as the Muslim rule in India. Very syncretic, it has the ability to incorporate the new and indulge in formal experimentation and is linked to the sufi practice and culture that has been the essential part of our cultural existence in this part of the world. The desired uniformity is regimentation and a denial of the historical process. At the same time, it is the negation of the great cultural mix that exists in the world and the ability to come to terms with it and benefit from its riches.

Qawwali is not a new form or an experimentation gone totally berserk. It has been part of our social fibre and artistic matrix and is almost as old as the Muslim rule in India. Very syncretic, it has the ability to incorporate the new and indulge in formal experimentation and is linked to the Sufi practice and culture that has been the essential part of our cultural existence in this part of the world.

From time to time, there is news of a murder in our media. It is usually young actresses being targeted. The general reaction of the public at large is to blame the victim. You know what kind of people they are. There must have been something that the one who was murdered had done to deserve it. And it is rare, very rare that the embedded discriminations based on the desire to exploit that underpins the system is looked into and questioned.

Cultural diversity is a part of the religious fabric of our society. It reflects the ability to incorporate and evolve. The prejudice against the arts is widespread. It intensifies in hatred where the performing arts are concerned. This discrimination frequently forms the justification of an inhuman act against them. “It is them” chimes in the majority as an act that should have had a solid reason behind it is justified.

Even Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, as he strode the globe, was perpetually stalked by death threats. As his fame grew, the greater became the level of threats. Like all other committed to their art, he did not bother about it and continued to perform. In the later part of his life, he was forced to keep an armed escort. But other artistes too, if not under threat, are under the cloud of prejudice.

We should pause and think about the kind of people we have become and by constantly seeking justifications from out of our understanding of beliefs driving ourselves into the blind alley of exclusion. As years go by, the monstrosity of insecurity is becoming bigger than the soft healing touch of tolerance and acceptance. The self-certainty has become so huge that we are all getting crushed under its weight.

The writer is a culture critic based in Lahore