TO SALMAN SPEAKS TO NEWSLINE

By Aassia Haroon

Q: Today, your band stands accused of treason. How do you respond?

A: This is not the first time we have been targeted. When Leghari dissolved Benazir's government, he claimed it was on the basis of corruption. I spent weeks in Islamabad running from the Presidency to the Ministry of Information to the television stations saying that our video Ehtesab would further the cause of the caretaker government. I said 'If you want to spread awareness, why don't you run this on television?'

Q: So everyone you tried to speak to in Islamabad just dismissed the idea of airing the video?

A: Yeah, and it was at that time BBC was doing a story about Benazir and Zardari, called The Princess and her Playboy, and they heard that we had done a song on accountability. The ironic thing is that when the director told Leghari that there was an artist in the country who had done a song furthering the very cause that he was talking about and hadn't been able to air it on PTV, Leghari told her, "Send Salman to me."

They are hypocrites. She told me that I should go and see Leghari. I went to the Presidency and given the royal runaround.

Q: So what happened after the Nawaz Sharif regime came into power?

A: They singled us out. When Khudi came out, they started attacking us for destroying our traditions. When we did the Sayonee video, the censor report said that it 'offends the sensibility of mysticism and it ridicules religious places.' It was then that we went to India for the Zee Cine Awards, and they came up with the reunification thing.

Q: The controversy began with something Ali said. What exactly was it?

A: He said that all humanity is one. We promoted the fact that there should be peace and harmony between the two countries. All of a sudden you had the spin doctors saying that Junoon is saying that India and Pakistan should be one. We were not allowed to perform. Then we started getting death threats. Our families were being harassed. The cops ransacked Ali's place.

Q: Why did you choose to go public?

A: We got a call from the Ministry of Culture and they said that a fax has come from Islamabad with charges of treason against us. When we went it was like a McCarthy hearing. There was a tape recorder and microphones and they asked us: Did you speak against the Two-Nation Theory and did you ask for the reunification of Pakistan? They even tried to brainwash us that when Kajol and Raveena Tandon came to meet us, [they approached Junoon for autographs], it was to offer us favours if we said that India was better than Pakistan.

Q: Why do you think you are being targeted?

A: The real reason is because we talked about accountability across the board. The thing our rulers fear most is true accountability. They keep diverting people's attention towards the Shariat Bill or the nuclear blast or whatever else.

Q: So what next?

A: We have said that if you have accused us of treason, take us to court and prove the charges against us. If the court says you are guilty of treason, we are willing to go to jail.

Q: What kind of effect has this accusation had on your band, your music, your desire to make music for Pakistan?

A: Anybody who has followed Junoon over the last five years will know that our music reflects our society, reflects us as being Pakistanis. The creative tension that I get from living here makes me write songs. This is a culture based on greed, hypocrisy, nepotism. Our leaders are the worst kind of human beings on earth and I for one am not afraid of attacking them because I have nothing to fear.

Q: You have been criticised for using religous terms in your songs...

A: Their understanding of religion is so archaic, so dogmatic that we are not going to cater to them. If they can't quite catch on to what the real essence of religion or spirituality is, it's not our problem. Our job is to just express our feelings .

Q: What is the next step after this trial?

A: I think that the next step is that they'll probably want to hang us!

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