Guantanamo, a Pak play

In one of Pakistan’s most exclusive private schools for boys, the annual play this year was Guantanamo, a docu-drama based on testimoni...

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In one of Pakistan’s most exclusive private schools for boys, the annual play this year was Guantanamo, a docu-drama based on testimonies of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, the US naval base in Cuba.

The cast was students between 16 and 18 years, each playing the role of a prisoner. To deepen their understanding, the boys pored through articles in Pakistani newspapers, studied the international press and surfed websites, including one that described itself as a nonsectarian Islamic human rights portal — cageprisoners.com.

It didn’t matter that the boys at the Lahore Grammar School lived in a world quite removed from that known by most prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The more they explored, they more the play resonated, the director of the production, Omair Rana, said in a telephone interview.

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The detainees were Muslim, many were Pakistani and one was arrested in Islamabad. ‘‘It was something we all could relate to,’’ Rana said of Guantanamo, a play created ‘‘from spoken evidence’’ by Victoria Brittain and Gillian Slovo, a Briton and a South African, that was staged in London and in New York last year. ‘‘All that seemed very relevant — in fact, too close for comfort.’’

Tales of abuses at the US detention centre, including Newsweek magazine’s now-retracted article on the desecration of the Koran, ricochet around the world, instilling ideas about American power and justice and sowing distrust of the US. Even more than the tales are the images that flash on TV screens through the Muslim world.

For many Muslims, Guantanamo stands as a confirmation of the low regard in which they believe the US holds them. For many non-Muslims, regardless of their feelings towards the US, it has emerged as a symbol of American hypocrisy.

‘‘The cages, the orange suits, the shackles — it’s as if they’re dealing with something like a germ they don’t want to touch,’’ said Daoud Kuttab, director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University in Ramallah.

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Najam Sethi, The Daily Times editor, said the Guantanamo accusations were seen in Pakistan as ‘‘further proof’’ of hypocrisy and anti-Islamic sentiment among the government of the US.

On Friday in bookshop, Maheen Asif leafed through a magazine and paused when asked for her impression of Guantanamo Bay. ‘‘Torture,’’ she said, ‘‘The first word that comes to my mind is ‘torture’ — a place where Americans lock up and torture Muslims in the name of terrorism.’’ —NYT