Pakistan's secret parties push religious boundaries
Elite have fun but are forced to tread lightly amid rising conservatism and Taliban threats
Women in short skirts and men with gelled hair bump and grind on a dance floor as a disc jockey pumps up the volume. The air is thick with illicit smoke and shots of hard liquor are being passed around. Couples kiss in a lounge.
This is not Saturday night at a club in New York, London or Hong Kong. It is the secret side of Pakistan.
Created out of Muslim-majority areas in colonial India 65 years ago, the country for decades portrayed itself as a progressive Islamic nation. Starting in the 1980s, however, it has been drifting towards a more conservative interpretation of Islam.
Yet the country remains home to a large, wealthy and Westernised elite that, in private, lives very differently.
Every weekend, fashion designers, photographers, medical students and businessmen gather at dozens of parties in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore to push social boundaries in discreet surroundings that would enrage hardliners.
"This is just epic," said Numair Shahzada, at a party in a farmhouse outside Islamabad.
To avoid prying eyes, the parties are held in such venues in the outskirts of Islamabad and other cities, or in affluent neighbourhoods behind high walls. Organisers charge around US$60 for entry, an amount most Pakistanis earn in a month.