ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon has reiterated that the sale and use of plastic horns (commonly known as baaja) is strictly prohibited within the federal capital.
In a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the DC stated:
“A ban has been imposed on the sale and use of horns in the federal capital. Legal action will be taken against violators.”
The measure comes ahead of Independence Day celebrations, a time when the use of noisy plastic horns typically surges.
The Islamabad city administration had imposed a similar ban during August last year, aiming to curb noise pollution and maintain public order during festivities.
Aysha Demina is promoting Chuvash heritage
“I’m an artist working with my Chuvash heritage,” says Aysha Demina, 25, when asked what audiences should keep in mind when engaging with her work.
“The Chuvash people have been colonized many times… yet they continue to hold onto their fading traditions,” she told The Moscow Times.
The Chuvash are a Turkic ethnic group of just over 1.1 million people, most of whom live in Chuvashia, a republic in Russia’s Volga region. While the majority of Chuvash today follow Orthodox Christianity, some maintain links to their pre-Christian polytheistic roots. Their language—Chuvash—is the only surviving member of the Bulgharic branch of the Turkic language family and is currently endangered, having lost over one million speakers between 2010 and 2021.
Born in Moscow, Demina gradually reconnected with her ancestral identity, learning the Chuvash language and studying her people’s history—both of which have been deeply affected by Russian colonization.
As an artist, Demina draws inspiration from Chuvash handweaving traditions, aligning herself with a new wave of Indigenous creators in Russia who push back against the state-imposed, museum-style framing of Indigenous art. Her work stands in deliberate opposition to aesthetic norms shaped by Moscow’s centralized cultural institutions.
Demina’s latest pieces will be featured in the upcoming Artists Against the Kremlin exhibition, co-organized by The Moscow Times and the All Rights Reversed gallery. The exhibit opens on August 15 at De Balie in Amsterdam and runs through September 4.
