No need for further divisions
A Seraiki province may provoke further narrow divisions rather than bring the diverse ethnic communities together.
The southern and western parts of Punjab are essentially agrarian, tribal and feudal in character. The social and economic landscape of the regions that have acquired an artificial Seraiki identity haven’t changed, but the changes have remained within the old historical pattern. The pattern is essentially paternalistic, socially hierarchical and in terms of economic class structure, polarised between landless peasants and big landlords.
Let me explain some changes and then argue why they are currently too insignificant to alter this historical pattern. Two economic changes in some parts of this region are very important. One, overseas employment, mainly in the Gulf has pushed some poor sections several notches up to the urban, middle class ranks, owing to influx of remittances. Second, the agricultural production and rising prices of commodities have raised living standards of small- and medium-size landowners. The proliferation of small- and medium-size landowners is itself a huge change in areas where the big landowning families have dominated the economic, social and political life.
It is equally true that a middle class through general and professional education has emerged from the Seraiki belt. But they are like an expatriate class, with little roots left in the towns and villages where they have come from. Spending their productive life in major cities, very few have generally looked back or have tried to retain social ties with their own areas. As a class, they are quite irrelevant to the social, cultural and political dynamics of the Seraiki regions.
These changes, that I believe will eventually reconstruct a new pattern, are still taking place within the old frame of social reference — in the feudal, tribal social system. There are, however, patches of territories where the size of landownership and with that, the influence of the big landowning class has shrunk. The same retrogressive social forces of caste and biradari have captured the vacant spaces.
The diversity of ethnic, linguistic and social groups within the Seraiki regions is more complex than in any other part of Pakistan since, the Baloch, Punjabis, Pashtuns and Seraiki — with their different sub-identities, tongues and local cultures — inhabit this land. These divisions create localism and sustain narrow parochial sentiments more than lend any support to a major political enterprise of creating a coherent ethnic community. Against this background, the idea of a Seraiki province may provoke further narrow divisions rather than to bring these many diverse ethnic communities together on a single platform.
For a long time though, the dream of the Seraiki province has been envisioned by the expatriate middle class, who being scattered and living in distant places couldn’t popularise at the grass-root level. Some of those from within the region like the Pakistan Seraiki Party and other subgroups have also attempted to raise the issue of Seraiki identity, grievances, deprivation and unjust allocation of resources across the regions. Their political voice, so far, has remained feeble.
The traditional ruling classes of the Seraiki region are ambivalent at best about the Seraiki province and some of them are rightly apprehensive about further ethnic divisions within the region. For instance, why would the Baloch-majority areas on the western side of the Indus with a strong Baloch identity remain in the Seraiki province and not opt for Balochistan?
The same can be true of the Punjabi-dominated parts of the region. On the other hand, the people of Bahawalpur are very proud of their history, legacy and non-ethnic geographic identity that are more inclusive than the narrow Seraiki sentiment.
The issue is really how we can address and manage social and economic change in the best possible manner, and thus alter the historical pattern of relationships through modernity. Faltering back to primitive instincts of narrow identities will create divisions within divisions and provide only emotional escapism from hard issues of development and justice.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2012.
Let me explain some changes and then argue why they are currently too insignificant to alter this historical pattern. Two economic changes in some parts of this region are very important. One, overseas employment, mainly in the Gulf has pushed some poor sections several notches up to the urban, middle class ranks, owing to influx of remittances. Second, the agricultural production and rising prices of commodities have raised living standards of small- and medium-size landowners. The proliferation of small- and medium-size landowners is itself a huge change in areas where the big landowning families have dominated the economic, social and political life.
It is equally true that a middle class through general and professional education has emerged from the Seraiki belt. But they are like an expatriate class, with little roots left in the towns and villages where they have come from. Spending their productive life in major cities, very few have generally looked back or have tried to retain social ties with their own areas. As a class, they are quite irrelevant to the social, cultural and political dynamics of the Seraiki regions.
These changes, that I believe will eventually reconstruct a new pattern, are still taking place within the old frame of social reference — in the feudal, tribal social system. There are, however, patches of territories where the size of landownership and with that, the influence of the big landowning class has shrunk. The same retrogressive social forces of caste and biradari have captured the vacant spaces.
The diversity of ethnic, linguistic and social groups within the Seraiki regions is more complex than in any other part of Pakistan since, the Baloch, Punjabis, Pashtuns and Seraiki — with their different sub-identities, tongues and local cultures — inhabit this land. These divisions create localism and sustain narrow parochial sentiments more than lend any support to a major political enterprise of creating a coherent ethnic community. Against this background, the idea of a Seraiki province may provoke further narrow divisions rather than to bring these many diverse ethnic communities together on a single platform.
For a long time though, the dream of the Seraiki province has been envisioned by the expatriate middle class, who being scattered and living in distant places couldn’t popularise at the grass-root level. Some of those from within the region like the Pakistan Seraiki Party and other subgroups have also attempted to raise the issue of Seraiki identity, grievances, deprivation and unjust allocation of resources across the regions. Their political voice, so far, has remained feeble.
The traditional ruling classes of the Seraiki region are ambivalent at best about the Seraiki province and some of them are rightly apprehensive about further ethnic divisions within the region. For instance, why would the Baloch-majority areas on the western side of the Indus with a strong Baloch identity remain in the Seraiki province and not opt for Balochistan?
The same can be true of the Punjabi-dominated parts of the region. On the other hand, the people of Bahawalpur are very proud of their history, legacy and non-ethnic geographic identity that are more inclusive than the narrow Seraiki sentiment.
The issue is really how we can address and manage social and economic change in the best possible manner, and thus alter the historical pattern of relationships through modernity. Faltering back to primitive instincts of narrow identities will create divisions within divisions and provide only emotional escapism from hard issues of development and justice.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 8th, 2012.