There is no doubt that politics has allowed the province to retain its dominating status
KARACHI: While attending a literature festival in Karachi, I met an old school friend who had relocated to Lahore recently. We both grew up in the vibrant albeit violent (more than 3,200 people were killed in 2013) City of Lights that lacked the greenery and historic charm of Lahore. She told me how much she loved living in Lahore, and felt like she had moved to Switzerland after living in a war zone all these years.
The contrast is not as exaggerated as it may seem. Punjab has suffered the least from suicide attacks and terrorism since 2001, in comparison to the rest of the country. With the exception of a few attacks, such as the one on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, Punjab has enjoyed safer times. Thus, the perception that Punjab has suffered less from violence than the rest of the country prevails. For non-Punjabis, the relative peace in the province is proof of how the Punjabi elite rally to protect their own interests. Such interprovincial rivalries could prove to be as great a challenge for the country’s stability as the Taliban.
It is commonly said that Punjab is synonymous with Pakistan, and vice versa, which seems to relegate the other provinces and autonomous regions to the status of outliers. Part of Punjab’s good fortune comes from geography. The name means ‘the land of five rivers’, which refers to the Indus River and its tributaries that flow through the province, making it the agricultural and industrial heartland of Pakistan. However, there is no doubt that politics has allowed the province to retain its dominating status.
Ali Raza Ansari
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2019.
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