The Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Badiouan Evil: An Important Domain to Seek Socio-political Change via Performing Arts

Most of Pakistani performance arts focus on a handful of typical issues, and this study investigated the political history of Pakistan to highlight a significant problem that needs the attention of the Pakistani state, i.e., religious manipulation. With utmost respect for all religions, the study argued that religious manipulation of the founder's ideology in Pakistan, especially by the Zia regime in the 1980s, serves more as the phallocentric fetish of religion, going against the very essence of religion itself. To establish the concept of religion as a fetish in Pakistani politics, the study first considers Freud's and Marx's theories on fetishism. Then it extends the debate to how this religious fetish led the dream of a secular Pakistan envisioned by its founder to transform into the religious manipulation of today. Despite Jameson's support for dual power, a system that supports the coexistence of alternative institutions that may ultimately replace existing authorities, such as political and religious institutions in the case of Pakistan, the study concluded that the religious fetish has failed the Utopian model in Pakistan. The model has failed due to its harmful nature, exemplified by Badiouan Evil. The study explains this failure, i.e., religious fetish as evidence of Badiouan Evil, and for that discusses the example of the Blasphemy law in Pakistan. The goal is to highlight the issue so that community institutions, such as education, performance studies, and theatre, can provide a safe medium for causing change in the public's socio-political consciousness regarding the issue.