The Anatomy of Inteha Pasand

Are we really inteha-Pasand?
“What lies in the name, A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”, said
Shakespeare few centuries ago. My guess is he was really not sure what this line would mean
in 2019 television ad in Pakistan. Recently, an ad surfaced on our TV screens and I am sure
all of you are familiar with it as it is too big a name to be missed out. The ad opens with a
voice over, “lo, aik aur inteha-pasand paida ho gya …” It baffled me when I heard it for the
first time but I was not quite sure why it was the case. Here I present few points why the
writers of this specific script must think twice before meddling with words like inteha-pasand.
In pure linguistic terms, language is a system of signs that actually comprise two parts,
i.e., a sound image (signifier) and an idea (signified) that is represented in that sound image.
When word rose is uttered, a specific image emerges in our heads and a specific idea follows,
such as love, beauty, serenity etc. Similarly, when word rape is uttered, a specific image
follows, and a specific idea emerges, such as horrendous injustice, brutality, inhumanity,
unfathomable cruelty etc. This specific ad tried to de-couple the signifier of “inteha-pasand”
from the signified that it represents, i.e., an utter, disgusting, inhumane act of violence where
a person willingly and all-knowingly abolishes the most basic human value, i.e., one’s right to
live. Over the period of time, the word “inteha-pasand” has been enshrined with an essence
that represents a deeply troubled human mind that results in disturbingly unjustifiable actions
such as terrorist attacks, urdu counterpart is dehshat gard. While one could totally argue that
the difference of degree of negative connotations between inteha pasandi and dehshat gardi is
poles apart, one cannot help but notice that the former actually gives birth to the latter. The
brands of people usually embody inteha pasand attitudes end up becoming, more often than
not, terrorists, murderers, and mercenaries. What the author of this ad did was a sweeping
negation of the entire context in which this specific word gained its horrifying connotation.
For the writer, it was more of a funny, may be genius word play where he/she tried to
put a “positive” spin on the word without realising the damaging consequences this trend
might generate for the public. This trend is not specific to Pakistan or to advertisement
business as such. Recently, a debate ensued within academic circles when a suggestion was
made at the CIA to replace word “torture” with “enhanced interrogation techniques”. The
move is supposed to let the agency use more brutal forms of techniques which they previously
cannot because the word torture carries a highly troublesome emotional value due to which
many unlawful operations come under question by the senate committees and human rights
activists. Or, let’s try to change another word here. Why don’t we call rape just “enhanced
seduction techniques”? I don’t think any person in his/her rightful state of mind would want to
do this. Why not? Because rape represents the practice that is so brutally unjustified that
“enhanced seduction techniques” might actually mean it is lesser of a crime. Such becomes
the importance of words, because words are not simply container of meaning like bottles that
carry water. Words like rape, torture, inteha-pasand not only represent things that happen but
embody the torturous experiences that may lose their value once we try to use them to mean
something that they are not.
In order to bring my point home, let me present a simple game we play with our kids.
It is a household practice to ask our kids what they want to become when they would grow up.
Suppose one day your child turns to you and goes, “ammi, main bara ho kar inteha-pasand
banana chahta hun”. The first reaction would be an absolute horror. After controlling your
anger and anguish, you might ask your child “where did you learn that word and why do you
want to become inteha-pasand?. The child might just refer you back the specific ad I
mentioned above. You will take a sigh of relief and might just simply tell your child to go
play outside and not say that word again. Given our socio-political environment, unfiltered
news coverage 24/7, and always running TV sets where such ads and horrible news
interchange your screens on daily basis, your child might come across the use of “inteha-
pasand” in the sense that it has been used for last 18 years. What would the child go through?
Would he/she not think who is an inteha-pasand? The one who is making marry at the birth of
the child (recall the first line of the ad), or the one who actually mercilessly takes others’
lives? How would you explain the difference between these two connotations if your child
asks you one day?
It is here that the use of inteha-pasand in a callous manner would become so

important. It would mean we simply do not care what catastrophic mind-set and practices this
word represented in the past one and a half decade. A famous Persian poet, Hafiz Sherazi
once said, “words are the houses we live in”. By replacing “inteha-pasand” a violence-laden
word with a cheap, positively spinned one, we just propose to forget the traumatic experiences
of hundreds of thousands of those souls again who actually lost their homes and loved ones at
the hands of these “inteha-pasands”. Bottom line: Some words are simply too sensitive to be
played with. We as people, as a linguistic community, need to show some resistance and some
form of protest in the face of such epistemic violence.

The Anatomy of Inteha Pasand

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Anatomy of Inteha Pasand

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

The Anatomy of Inteha Pasand

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Are we really inteha-Pasand?

It is here that the use of inteha-pasand in a callous manner would become so

You might also like