Karachi(Staff Repoter)Karachi is one of the few cities whose history and culture has been twisted because of misleading of different community groups for sectarian, social and political power wars. The sociopolitical turmoil that Pakistan has been experiencing for the past few decades has many causes; however the problems such as illiteracy and intolerance have been proven the root causes of all. Today, People in Karachi have to deal with issues of the increasing social, ethnic and religious fragmentation and polarization aroused by various groups living in Karachi. Limited opportunities to positively engage with one another to break social, cultural and economic barriers have also made the socio-ethnic and religious fault-lines more prominent. To eliminate this turmoil, one thing that we can do to bring the city out of chaos is to educate community about resilience and cohesiveness through some entertaining media. One potential way for this idea is ‘the performing arts’, which can help re-sensitize viewers to the peace, harmony as well as to the rich, diverse cultural heritage thereby creating grass-root base for counter-narrative. In performing arts, in particularly the Puppet shows, have the potential to disseminate positive messages. These arts are the media equally appropriate for children as well as adults. Research also suggests that String Puppetry can be a predominantly effective tool for communicating complex social-issues in communities with low incomes and low literacy levels.
