ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 31 -- Every new year creates an interesting dilemma in Pakistan: to celebrate or not to celebrate.
While police protect rich areas where Pakistan's ruling elite celebrate the new year with alcohol and dances, other members of the same force go around beating those who try to copy the elite.
"This aptly represents the contradiction Pakistan has been struggling with since its creation 53 years ago: to remain orthodox or go modern," says anthropologist Tarique Mahmood of Islamabad's Quaid-i-Azam University.
The country is divided among those who want to make it a modern state, like any other in the world, and those who want to change it into a theocratic state like neighboring Iran or Afghanistan. The first group sees no contradiction between a liberal lifestyle and its Islamic faith.
"Islam does not forbid social or economic progress," Khalid Rasheed, another teacher at the Quaid-i-Azam University. "It does not stop people from celebrating the new year or any other festival as long as the celebrations do not harm others."
But the other group insists that Pakistan was created as a homeland for Muslims and those living here will have to "abandon their evil desires and aspirations created under the Western influence," says Hafiz Saeed of Lashkar-i-Tayyaba party.
Often the same ministers and government officials who hold large new year parties at home, give statements to the national press condemning the un-Islamic manners of those who celebrate evil Western festivals like the new year.
