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Who are the Chiniotis?” “They are people who fail the Memon entrance exam.” The entire hall roared with laughter...
Who are the Chiniotis?” “They are people who fail the Memon entrance exam.” The entire hall roared with laughter during a stand-up comedy I attended with friends last month. Although just a joke (and humour about ethnic roots and its peculiar traits always makes for a good laugh) it is a fact that we all love to joke about things which play an important part in our lives. Ethnicity being one of them.
In Pakistan, every time I meet new people, the first, and apparently the most important question that is directed my way is always the same: “Who are you?” Just last night, at a dinner an aunty asked: “Beta, where is your family from?” And the answer expected in return was that of naming my ethnicity. Contrarily, to my friends in England and the US, their ethnicity is irrelevant. They do not care if they came from a Celtic background or whether their grandparents were of Irish descent who settled in New England. Instead, they take pride in being just English or just Americans. And that’s it!
However we Pakistanis like to wear our ethnicity as a badge of pride. Being a Mohajir then, it is considered ‘more important’ to be sanguine about the fact that my ancestors migrated from the United Provinces in India. Likewise someone from Peshawar who has been living in Karachi for 30 years will consider himself as a Pathan first and then a Karachiite, and also probably a Pathan first and a Pakistani second. No matter how much we like to celebrate our linguistic and cultural differences, most of us find solace in our ethnic identities that define our values and galvanise our personality.
Taking pride is one thing, but believing that ethnicity speaks to hope and well being is another, and quite disturbing. When will we all become one people? Shouldn’t we too put our nationality first so that we become united as Pakistanis?
Published in the Express Tribune, May 18th, 2010.
Reader Comments (8)
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Indeed nationality comes first but in Pakistan the issue is otherwise, we being different ethnic groups not only feel proud of our ethnicity but also look down upon others. I remember first time when I visited Lahore, the Punjabi SETH sahab out of nowhere (with whom I was passionately discussing business opportunities in Punjab) called himself proud Punjabi(s) for being a part of Pakistan for more than 150 years unlike others (Muhajirs?) who joined Pakistan RECENTLY. I could have shut him up with loads of reasoning but preferred to ignore his rubbish in a lighter vein saying “I didn’t know we were Pakistan even before 1947″.
Here in Karachi, Pathans call their native places “Watan” as if Karachi is a different country. Even abroad when we Pakistanis meet they group with each other region-wise.
Pakistan is a country where clans, tribes, caste, ethnicity come before nationality, I don’t think we will ever be able to get ourselves recognized as Pakistani first.Recommend
Totally agree…
Though I do feel now perceptions are changing. People like us who have never really felt any discrimination on the basis, or lack of, being a Muhajir, Sindhi, Balochi, Pathan, etc dont care where each of us comes from? Never in my life have I ever made a friend here or abroad based on ethnicity. Yes, I do joke about punjabi girls being the best looking (unless they open their mouths to speak :p) but its all in good humour.
I am a Pakistani… and so is the rest of Pakistan.Recommend
Great article Sadia, I’m a fan!
By my reckoning, I think India have the same problem, but to a greater extent. It’s probably got to do with the soil in this part of the world.Recommend
come on you cant compare the US and UK to Pakistan. Same is the case in many Asian countries like India for instanceRecommend
Diversity has never been celebrated in Pakistan, in fact pride about one’s ethnic culture has always been frowned upon as a indication of being less patriotic. If we had celebrated our diversity and given due respect to each other’s ethnic culture we would not have felt the need to assert our ethnic background.
I was a bit surprised that this article (the last line in particular), coming from an apparently well educated person is sort of trying to suggest the same.Recommend
People in UK and the US don’t care where anyone’s from???Really??? That’s a first. Isn’t African American a term used for black people there? No matter for how long they’ve been living in the US,they’ll always be African first.Same goes for all other nationalities & ethnicities.I have always seen every celeb very proudly talking about how they’re Italian,Columbian,Greek,Latin etc and their being American is never questioned.What’s wrong with being proud of your race? You should never be treated bad because of it nor should you think of anyone else as inferior because of it but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with always remembering,asserting & being proud of who you are.Recommend
I don’t agree with the writer. Sarah (above) is correct in her comments that talking about ethnicities, etc is not unique to Pakistan. I also find it curious that the writer has chosen to lump together the US and the UK whereas the dynamic in the two countries is vastly different. For instance, there is UK—which includes Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England. Incidentally, the football (soccer to Americans) team only represents England to the exclusion of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Can you imagine if something like that happened in Pakistan? So what if Pakhtuns in Karachi refer to their part of the country as “watan”? Big deal. When it comes to our cricket team, the same Pakhtun will support Pakistan. Let’s not overreact to little differences.Recommend
“People in UK and the US don’t care where anyone’s from???Really???” Sara, the writer did not use the word ‘anyone!’ It is a fact that to people in the US and UK, ehnicity is not as impprtant as it is to people in our part of the world, with the exception of blacks & latinos (who have a different history altogether & thus can not be compared to the ethnic tribes in Pakistan).Recommend