adaan was aired earlier this month. Starring actors Ramsha Khan and Ahmad Ali Akbar in lead roles, the story is set in a locality in Karachi called Jaam Nagar where drugs are rife and a majority of the residents are ignorant.

Penned by Sajjee Gul of Mrs and Mr Shameem fame and directed by Mehreen Jabbar, this is another addition to the repertoire of mini-series being aired on various television channels. Sultana Siddiqi is the producer.

Ahmad Ali Akbar is the station house officer in Jaam Nagar. Ramsha Khan is a doctor who works in a recently opened government hospital in the area. She also lives in Jaam Nagar. One of her former class fellows and hospital colleague whose father is an MPA in the area has been instrumental in leading the project to renovate the hospital.

The hospital becomes a threat to Pir Subhan, who takes advantage of the superstition and ignorance in the area to sell drugs under the pretext of providing medicines. According to the Pir, his medicines have healing powers exceeding those prescribed by medical professionals and can remedy all kinds of ailments.

Pir Subhan invites the parliamentarian to his lodgings and issues him a threat. If he does not shut down the public medical facility, which has became functional recently, the Pir says, he will make sure that the MPA loses his vote bank, a significant chunk of which he says consists of the Pir’s followers.

Pir Subhan warns that if the hospital is not closed, he will withdraw his backing for the MPA so that the latter will be reduced to the level of a local councilor, forced to go from door to door and run after wayward voters.

One of his followers, Tayyab, insulting Ramsha, in the presence of her father, who has worked hard to educate and support his daughter. Tayyab is portrayed as a good-for-nothing youth who dreams of succeeding Pir Subhab one day.

One of Ramsha’s neighbours brings her ailing daughter to her. She tells Ramsha that the girl started behaving strangely ever since she started using medication that Pir Subhan had prescribed. Ramsha takes a pill from her and sends it to a laboratory. She learns that the pill has methamphetamine in it.

Ramsha is determined to expose the pir who pretends to be a spiritual healer but is, in fact, a drug dealer. 

Ramsha files a complaint at the police station against Pir Subhan, who she believes is selling drugs instead of regular medicines.

Ramsha is portrayed as a bold and outspoken woman who has no qualms about taking on the pir. She might not fully realise that she is stirring a hornet’s nest. Pir Subhan will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the MPA will side with him and cause the hospital to be closed. On the other hand, Ramsha is determined to expose the pir who pretends to be a spiritual healer but is, in fact, a drug dealer.

Ahmad Ali Akbar, the new SHO, is unaware of the threat. An honest and upright police officer, he is determined to do what he can to eliminate the drug menace in the precinct. Can he and Ramsha join hands? Will they succeed in spreading awareness about what is actually happening and blow the Pir’s cover? The stakes are actually higher than each of them bargained for. Pir has a number of followers in the area who trust him blindly. Ramsha and Ahmad are at a disadvantage because they have to fight against a criminal who wields a lot of power and influence in the area. To top it all, the MPA is afraid of him and unable to challenge him.

The play has had an engaging beginning. Raising awareness in a low-literacy locality about the hazards of drug issue seems to an uphill task. Somehow, the viewer gets the impression that Ramsha and Ahmad will be able to eradicate this menace from their area and she and her colleagues will be able to keep running the hospital.

It promises to be a formidable battle. Let’s wait and see what transpires in this clash. With Sultana Siddiqi and Mehreen Jabbar at the helm, the mini serial promises to be interesting.

The writer is an educationist. She can be reached at gaiteeara@hotmail.com.