Question: Do you think a twenty year old; the child of Pakistani parents who has grown up in the Middle East, schooled there and then in London but who holds a Pakistani passport and who has essentially grown up surrounded by Pakistani people is Pakistani even though he's never lived in Pakistan at all?
I thought to myself that this is a very smart and concerned question from, well, a concerned Pakistani.
Online I went, to my favorite reference site (www.wikipedia.org) and after doing some brief reading the following was my response:
Can a man, born in India to an Ismaili khoja family, married to a Parsi, educated and living in England, holding an Imperial passport, not able to speak our national language but surrounded by people who envisioned and desired the same idea be the Father of a Nation?
The answer to my friends question, we are sure to find in the due course of time!
This thought led me to my own question. What is a Pakistani? Yes by the technical definition he or she is the citizen of our recently formed state however in my personal belief, being a Pakistani is far more than that. It is an ideal! It is the will to stand for your rights; it is the energy and ambition to work towards realising your beliefs; it is the desire to live free and it is the passion to better your motherland and your lot to the best of your honest abilities.
That is what I feel it is to be a Pakistani. I don’t expect agreements on this though I do invite debate here.
How far are we in achieving this ideal; is another question in itself but if you or I have the will, energy, commitment, passion and conviction to be Pakistani then I do believe there is hope.
Even in her martyrdom, Benazir Bhutto has ignited an inferno of political enlightenment amongst the urban Pakistani’s (moreso amidst the youth) who perhaps viewed Pakistani politics perched on their comfortable sofa’s watching our fate play its role on the boob tube.
I sincerely hope that a phoenix does rise from these ashes.
This country cannot burn anymore, and I for one cannot remain seated on my sofa, anymore!
Pakistan Zindabad!
Lets talk about Pakistan, what really matters…what is this all about? Is it about Pakistan? About the geography? The people? The political parties? The “leaders”? Power? Money? Religion?
ReplyDeleteNo one seems to know.
Some tell me its about rule of law, others a corrupt army and political personages, yet others: political parties, economics, US, Indian, Iranian, Afghan, Chinese interests, many are focused on the ‘independence of judiciary,’ many believe its personal desire for money, power etc., there are many who believe it for Allah and bringing Islam to our Pakistan. Not one common element.
The picture changes with the perspective.
Disturbing don’t you think?
There is one common element though…confusion.
We do not know who we are. Are we Muslims, Shias, Sunnis, Hanifis, Wahabis, Deobandis (etc.) , Pakistanis, Sindhis, Punjabis, Pathans, Balochs or Kashmiris? Are all equal or do we believe and accept that some are more equal than others…
Logically, if the above is taken to be true, in whatever measure it suits our senses and sensibilities, one fact stands established: we don’t have a clue to our Collective Identity.
No leader has given us this. Not even Jinnah. They couldn’t have. Our identity was established with ‘the Muslims of India,’ ‘Islamic Republic of Pakistan,’ ‘the Quran and the Sunnah will be the guiding principles of this Nation.’ But, suddenly the ‘leaders,’ dead and living, realize that this identity does them no good. Why? how would Musharraf sleep on the floor? You wont have those seven course meals twice a day with 70% of the populace without clean water? Uh oh, this is not good…better not quote the Quran and Sunnah too much. Use only as and when needed and distort as required.
And that, is a calamity…and we’re in the middle of it. Have been since maybe even before Pakistan was established.
It does not matter who Ayub Khan was, what Yahya did, what Bhutto(s) precipitated etc etc etc. What matters is: we are a calamity stricken nation. We could talk and talk and talk our lives away as you may see ‘experts’ doing on TV etc. Discussing, theorizing, feeding our egos with the spice that tickles, with that essential and rather rude “we’ll be back right after a short break” when the topic was Pakistans future…a short break!!! Is it not a mockery of our intelligence? All governments, unfortunately, have indulged in this mind numbing exercise in their own preferred ways. Of that, all stand guilty.
I thought about why…and I’ve come up with: We are hypocrites and liars. And we’re happy with it in our own world. I am ashamed to say, I am one too. The behavior of the Police in the thanas is amusing for me to talk about, positive or negative but when my home gets robbed, my daughters’ raped, my car stolen, my brother shot…the day it affects me…change of perspective! And a damn quick one, now that I cannot even register the FIR unless I bribe, coerce, influence. Now, I wail and lament the injustice, bribery, corruption etc. Its hit home. Home…
Home…the four walls within which I live…we have never considered Pakistan home. Again its just confusion isn’t it? And politician, mullah, civil administration, army has done nothing but what they should have, given the source of their existence…we’ve been looted, plundered, raped, abused. We deserve it too. A seven year old girl, raped, thrown on a roof in the capital (and many many other places) is to me a hugely bigger loss than the death, however tragic, of a single ‘leader.’ No offence.
This is happening today, it happened when those vying for power now were in power. If they had only done anything to make sure people were safe, justice was quick and so on…I’ld say to them Bravo! Plunder on...but as Ardeshir Cowasjee wrote, “…in Pakistan, it seems, there is no honor among thieves.”
Consider this, we are an Islamic republic. The Constitution has always, in its best and worst forms always contained the first lines…We accept that God is the only Sovereign and we His vicegerents, no law conflicting with the Quran and Sunnah will be legislated and any law in conflict will be amended and so on…
Question: Who has brought in that law? This seems to be the least quoted part of our constitution. And we have forgotten. Why because now, to our current (western sensibilities) it does not make sense. We’re scared to say who we are. So called ‘leaders’ are terrified what the world will think if they mention Quran and the Sunnah. Oh no, we’re not fanatics, God didn’t say this because He meant that…you have studied the Quran…is this not terrifyingly familiar…and you know what happened afterwards.
I think this, in essence, is our problem. We ‘believe’ in God but we believe in ‘the pursuit of happiness’ and Dollars just as well and maybe a trifle more. And this phenomenon trickles down…language, race, location are no barriers.
Why I don’t read the papers or listen to the news etc.? If you’re familiar with some Urdu literature, theres a book written by Colonel Mohammad Khan, published in the 60s, where he narrates the story of his transfer to Bannu. At the time, the war with the Faqir of Ippi was raging at its peak. Suddenly he was transferred to the front line, which was unusual as he was a signals officer. He replaced a British officer. On his journey to the front, his batman, a Pathan, solved the problem for him. He had been sent because, a few weeks ago, the rebel Pathan fighters had captured a British officer and after much negotiations, jirgas and requests they returned the officers' Army ID and two ears. This is a light book but factual. How much intelligence is required to understand that this is their way, however, brutal. It’s our perspective that it is barbaric, to them: what are the options? And why are we surprised?
I have a letter from my brother written shortly before he died in an accident in Karachi. He would be twenty when he wrote this. It mentions the saga of PIA flight PK-726. As I read on, believe me, it seemed he had written the letter yesterday as he described the tension and problems in the country and the governments actions.
Even more harrowing, for me. I was unpacking very, very old family crockery. It was wrapped in a Pakistan Times dated in 1956. It read like today’s paper. Corruption, bribes, high prices, electricity & water problems, the provinces unhappy with each other and so on.
My Mom and servant were transfixed to the news of explosions in Karachi. What kind of bomb was it? Detonated remotely? under the cart or over? How many dead? How many critical? President in Karachi…Zardari due to arrive…politicians condemn and feel sorry for the lives lost. What a laugh…how easily they shift our attention from the fact that they are directly responsible for this…each death is a murder…committed by them.
It feels like a time warp. And I realize we, humans, do live in only an instant. Faces, geography, seasons, dates change…history does not repeat it self…it just continues…until someone, decides…to change it. One thing is certain…it does change. Everyone knows that. They just want someone else to do the damn unpleasant work because the odds seem, to put it mildly, life threatening.
And Omar, remember: the unbelievers became the best believers...born in India? sorry, could not have been Pakistan...educated in england: besides the both of us, how many of our friends are not? Imperial passport? what else could you have then at that date? And he not only understood Urdu perfectly he also spoke it...oh and lest we forget: he believed in a United India till Iqbal told him otherwise. And most of his life was spent in India...
Getting off the sofa then? Excellent.
There is a service required of all. To that service we may only turn a blind eye, we can never say no.
And this duty is not to Pakistan...
thanks for that rather insightful comment however allow me to set the record straight that Jinnah could not speak Urdu.
ReplyDeletehe, in an address after the nation was formed was pelted with stones and a mob nearly got to him because he opened the speech with 'brothers and Sisters'
also FYI Urdu was not the official language in Baluchistan until 1972.
as for a nation based solely on religion i am not sure i agree to that ideology however i do believe that our religion has the best practises for any government to function but with the likes of Qazi's and Fazalurahmans i dont see them as the beacons to implement the good teaching of the Quran to a nation that has already lost its soul!
i agree...but the urdu bit omar...my dad spoke with him four times, twice in urdu and his conversations he recorded (in writing) with details of those present etc...once as member of the muslim leage guards in pindi and thrice when in the airfoce...because the man who selected him for the raf was jinah adc.
ReplyDeleteanyways, i am not saying religion should be it...i am just saying that that is what the constitution says...change that!
good or bad...i am not judging...but who has held power more than the so called mullahs? and what fame and fortune did they bring us?
finally, religion...if not meant to be practised...then what is it for? if someone says their christian or jew and do not adhere to it...are they what they say they are? if a merc doensnt have the form or the interior that are its hallmark...would you buy it for a merc?
so, the point...a decision on the criteria.
read the girl whose being kept in chains and raped in sahiwal...thats as good as anything to make one get up and go...
perhaps i didnt get my point across fully. he did speak urdu but not well. here's an extract from an article
ReplyDelete"The man we shall later revere as the Quaid-i-Azam was a contemporary of Azad, and a most unlikely contender for Muslim leadership. He was born in 1876; Azad in 1890. But beyond the proximity of age, the two stood in sharp contrast to each other. While Azad’s aristocratic roots lay in the Muslim heartland of UP and Bengal, Jinnah was born to a middle class business family in the port town of Hindu-dominated Karachi. At age 21 he moved to England, thence to Bombay, the modern gateway to British India. Unlike Azad who belonged to the majority Sunni denomination of Islam, Jinnah came from the minority Shi’a community. He was the prototypical westernized Indian, tutored at Lincoln’s Inn, tailored at Saville Row, in his youth a Shakepearian actor, a constitutionalist barrister in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, married to a Parsi woman. More at home in English than his native Gujrati, Jinnah spoke little Urdu which he would later designate as Pakistan’s official language, knew neither Persian nor Arabic, and had only the rudimentary knowledge of Islam which is common to western educated Muslims. He was anathema to an overwhelming majority of the Ulema of the subcontinent, including so grand a figure as Maulana Husain Ahmed Madani and such ideologue as Abul Ala Maudoodi.
Mr. Jinnah made little effort to overcome his obvious handicaps. Unlike Barrister M.K. Gandhi with whom Jinnah shared similarities of language, class, and education, and who donned the Mahatma’s home spun dhoti, Jinnah stuck to his western ways and pin-stripe suits. He bowed but rarely to populist symbols, appearing only occasionally at political ralies, and shunning the display of emotion in public. Reasoned arguments and cold logic were the hallmark of Jinnah’s discourse. He spoke at political rallies as though he were addressing a courtroom, or a conference of lawyers. This is not the populist style anywhere, least of all in South Asia. Yet, in less that a decade of his return from London in 1935, he had eclipsed his political foes no less than colleagues in the Muslim League, and successfully established himself and the League as the sole spokesman of India’s Muslims. In the elections of 1937 the Muslim League barely survived as a minor political party; in 1940 it set Pakistan as its goal. Barely seven years later the new state was born."
the link to the article is
http://www.bitsonline.net/eqbal/articles_by_eqbal_view.asp?id=5&cid=5
i agree that religion if not practised is just another word of identity . . .however in order to instill that faith and practise back one needs leadership especially, as i believe, in our faith (and others) where an Imam educated those who know not.
I'll make a second post on our dialogue on Jinah.
ReplyDeleteHere, I want just say something about your lines on religion.
No 'Imam' is needed...Definately not in Islam...and probably not in others...I cant really say.
The Creator is The Leader...who bring His message are Messengers...and they practise it too. We are all in ourselves individually responsible for our actions...we will never be able to say that since we did not have an 'imam' so we did things our way...how many things do we already profess belief in and practise?
We do not need an 'imam'...to think that is to mislead ourselves, probably because it seems to remove the burden of our own responsibility elsewhere (which, you will agree, we all do)...or maybe just go into denial over what we know we must do...
No 'imam'...
Just us.
And Allah knows best.