The writer is an Islamabad based lawyer and is the central deputy secretary information of the PTI
Leave aside the multitudes of illiterates or semi-illiterates; do the highly-educated people of our nation have the minutest of an idea who they really are; which stock they really belong to; what are the wonders that their ancestors have done in so many fields over thousands of years? But here arises a question: Who were their ancestors? Were they Al Khwarizmis, Al Berunis or were they Mahaviras, Ashokas, etc.?
Ours may be the only nation where the sense of ancestry is sickeningly mistaken, thanks to our unbounded hatred towards everything that is Indian. Intense propaganda through distorted curricula and censored media, coupled with intellectual and moral barrenness over decades, has given rise to this sorry state of affairs. Consequently, there is a complete blackout of history spanning several millennia from the Indus Valley Civilisation to the conquest of Sindh by our textbook hero, Muhammad bin Qasim.
A marvellous treasure of preserved history containing records of wonderful philosophies, civilisations, religions, empires, belonging to the same racial stock that predominantly inhabits Pakistan and having originated from the same territories that now constitute Pakistan, has been buried far away from our collective intellect. Due to ill-perceived danger to the religion of Pakistanis, they, since the inception of the young state, have not been allowed the luxury of learning about their own history. They have been deprived of the pride of the countless glories of their past just because they belong to the period preceding the advent of Islam. A few couplets of our highly revered poet, with which it is not very fashionable to disagree, successfully diverted the genealogical lineage of all the inhabitants of the new state, including that of the poet’s own (as his own forefathers were Kashmiri Brahmins before converting to Islam) from India to Central Asia or Middle East. And that imaginary transmigration of ancestry actually did take place in the minds of fellow countrymen without any historical or genealogical basis. The irony gets even worse, when one tastes the sense of racial superiority and arrogance of the Middle Eastern and Central Asian progeny of our imaginary forefathers.
This grossly mistaken identity is the root cause of all our confusions which have been compounding for decades. The range of confusions includes the basic questions about our own selves, the objective of our existence as a nation, the purpose of the creation of our new state, to the most recent questions encountering us like how to deal with militancy? How to inculcate principles of tolerance and coexistence to counter militancy? How to interact with our neighbours especially India, the Muslim world and the international community? All these emanate from this crisis of identity. We need to understand what is it that has plagued us when scores of other states that started off along with us in almost similar circumstances are thriving.
Our failures as a state on many counts are enough to indicate that the basic premises on which our state is erected are faulty. As they say, it’s never too late to make amends. It is time we take up the gauntlet to resolve our identity crisis before it’s really too late.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 19th, 2014.
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COMMENTS (71)
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@Rex Minor: I personally know many who came from India and trace their lineage to Pashtun tribes, such as, yousufzai, have "Khan" attached to their names but having lived in India, have adopted Indian culture. The idea was that over time culture influences identity more than racial background. You seemed to have missed the idea. Thanks.
@Lubna @Maria
Please see my previous comment addressing @Aisha stating that the problem is much, much deeper than the author has raised. All good, intelligent, thinking Pakistanis - as well as Muslims - must read what a few great Pakistanis like Prof Akbar Ahmed, Khalid Durran, etc. as also other Muslim scholars including Ibn Warraq and Ali Sina. Thank you!
@Rex Minor: And with that Pakistan is declared the winner at the nomenlature games of 2014.
@Maria:
Once again you said it. Bravo! Let me try to take the readers away from the religion or ethnic identy and point out that there has been an integration and cultural crisis when estimated eight million muslim refugees crossed over from India into Pakistan and more or less simillar number of fully integrated non muslims left Pakistan. Neither the political nor the community leadership have addressed this conflict and instead radicalised it by imposing minority dictum on the indigenous majority.
Rex Minor
@Maria: You are wrong. Mohajir’s identify with Pakistan at least as much as any other group, and possibly even more. I am not talking about the leadership as that is not a permanent phenomenon. More than race, culture has to do with identity and if you consider religion to be part of culture then race does not influence identity as much. For example, there are many Indian immigrants from India who were original Pashtuns but having lived in India for a couple of centuries or more and they identify themselves more with a UP or Bihari Muslim culture than with race. (Examples may include Liaquat Ali Khan, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan.) So culture trumps identity and religion is one important part of it. However, some scholars consider religion to be a super imposition on culture. From that point of view, most Pakistanis have a localized culture with varying form of religious super-imposition. Actually both culture and religion influence each other and as such Pakistanis have mixture of local culture (which has plural influences derived from centuries of history) and a level of ingrained religion. Best wishes to all.
Actually, this whole discussion is meaningless since Pakistanis have multiple identities. That one can draw different characteristics into an imagined identity is where the crisis is as this can only be a figment of imagination. So this whole discussion is much ado about nothing.
@Feroz
Very well said.
P.S
I have read somewhere that the great Muhammad Ali Jinnah once said that Md Bin Qasim is the first Pakistani. If it's true then that should end all debates about Pakistani identity crisis.
@observer: The dancing girl is obv an artistic distortion, no human looks like that. It's unreasonable to claim that that the Sindhis of today aren't descendants of the Mohenjodaro people. Just like it would be unreasonable to deny that must have been considerable admixture with other nations since those times
@ProgressiveSindhi: I agree with you that the violence of the partition is the main reason why Punjab is more anti India than other parts of Pakistan. After all more communal violence took place there than anywhere else with the result that Pakistani Punjab is almost all Muslim and smaller Indian Punjab is all Sikh. I don't think less than 50 years of Sikh rule over Punjab and KPK caused the current anti India hatred since even Pashtun rulers of Peshawar accepted Sikh rule after they were defeated and Sikh rule lasted for a very short period compared to over 1000 years of Muslim rule over Punjab and KPK. The writer of this article should direct his thesis at the Muhajir community who like to claim foreign origin and not to the majority native Pakistanis. What is interesting is how my friends in Karachi who come originally from India and look very Indian always say they are Syeds from Arabia or some other foreign Muslim. Clearly if they look at themselves most Muhajirs look just like the other Indians around them from their place of origin in India. Often they look very different from native Pakistanis. The varied looks of native Pakistanis can be explained by the different races which mixed to form the genetic pool but I think that Muhajirs are much closer to the original Indian races. The assertion of confused identity is not applicable to native Pakistanis but only to Muhajirs who came from India to Pakistan but if they identified more with Pakistan, they would lose their identity crisis.
Indian history was nothing but the plethora of ignorance & illitracy, Thanks to the Arabs for bringing the light of islam in this lost continent. For anyone who thinks that Pakistani geography was mainly influenced with that of indian culture is wrong. Pakistan was the hub of gandhara civilization & indus valley civilization..
its amazing that people still believe the aryan theory..its been several decades since thebritish were booted out my good people, progress from the slave mentality..pakistans history textbooks need urgent revaluation...that may just help out with the identity crisis.
@Lubna: " ... I don’t see Muslims as ‘invading marauders’ but as people who brought a superior culture and belief system to the subcontinent. ... "
You say superior, I say polio.
@Maria
Well said madam; but any one who is keen to go further back in history to the origin of the modern homo sapien, based on latest anthropological studies, they origiinated from the Arabian Peninsula as opposed to Africa as was previously estimated. Those who want this confirmed could have their DNA processed in a laboratory at a fee of around $300 to confirm the similarity with the DNA of the modern Arab!!
Rex Minor
@Grace Would you rather prefer that they be also proud of the Pagan ancestory?
Rex Minor:
@SuchaMucha: Incest is very explicitly disallowed in Islam with severe punishments for the perpetrator. Since this a moderated comment section Tribune DOES bear responsibility for user comments they choose to publish.
@Lubna: "Pakistan was founded as a country for the Muslims of South Asia"
. . . and the Bengalis have already left.
The same Muslims who created Pakistan are being disqualified as muslims and butchered in mosques.
Remove your glasses and see the world the way it is. Some stuff that looks lush green is actually brown - very brown.
Mr. Randhawa, one of the best analysis I've read on ET pages.
Pakistan could have been the ideal Muslim world leader if it had simply accepted its heritage and identity and moved on.
The down-with-India mentality has caused severe damage and it has already metastasized in 10 different ways. The extremist forces have become so strong that unless the country as a whole revolts, the problem will not get fixed.
@A reader: "Another interesting factoid is that one of India’s most beloved singers, Mohammad Rafi . . ."
Thank God Rafi decided to stay in India and accomplished what no one will ever. Had no clue about his 1st wife - glad you informed me of that part of the history. She must be regretting now why she left a gem, in every which way, called Rafi.
Pakistan has some sane people but they seem outnumbered and hence there doesnt seem to be any hope a fundamental transformation in Pakistan, which is what it requires. I wish the sane people safety and wellness.
@Komal S: Islam is superior in the sense that it have preserved the ancient Prehistoric, Pre civilization practice of incestuous relation and ritual of animal sacrifice in public to please their god in hope of receiving reward for act.While rest of the humanity have fallen from these high moral ethical standards in effort to evolve and try to move to philosophical, intellectual standards, Islamic people have kept their faith in its originality.
@Aisha:
You are right. The problem is much, much deeper than the author others have alluded. You can research - start with Mr. Google - and educate yourself. Many people have been talking about it. Look for my articles or Ibn Warraq's or Khalid Duran....
@Maria: Very good analysis. I second it. It's natural that Mohajir preferred caste name like syeds and other turkish etc because it gives them sense of Muslimhood pride. And because of that reason, they left India and came to settle here in land of pure. Punjab was in tight grip of Sikh rulers, that might have caused in Punjabi Muslims a sense of deprivation, that is likey why they have been holding India-centric grudge. More Punabjis lost their lives during partition than any where else in Pakistan. On contrary, Hindu Exodus in Sindh was much more peaceful, even CM Khuhro lost his CMship because he stopped rioters and protected Hindus and their properties.
Anyways, what ever our current history have been, we are now Pakistan. We need to acknowledge our connection with this land and feel proud to be sons of the soil. Our relationship with this land, heritage and history is much more older than current 60 years or 1500 years. We need Not to be frightened with our Non-Pakistani Past or Non-Muslim history. Lets reconnect with our past, make Pakistan a progressive, pluralistic and welfare country.
Author: You will be fired by PTI.Come and join the ranks of sane Pakistanis who have no identity crisis.
@Muhibullah: Er... I am curious. How did you determine that people in the "primitive" Indus Valley Civilization "were slaughtered at the alter [sic] of idols." Is this from one of the many Pakistani textbooks? But let us say that it is true. Is it any different from Pakistanis slaughtering fellow citizens at the altar of religion?
@Raja Porus: Indus valley civilization was over 3000 years ago. It was primitive culture where people were slaughtered at the alter of idols. It was destroyed by Aryan invaders thousands of years before Muhammad bin Qasim.
It is just fashionable to be different and that is what the author has tried to get attention. The author cannot even suggest how we are going to arrive at our 'real identity.' Can he even define what exactly is the identity of a common Pakistani? '
@Lubna: "Pakistan was founded as a country for the Muslims of South Asia"
Hello we are in 2014 and not 1947. Your Muslim First ideology combined with the lack of sensitivity to your plurality has had the following consequences: 1) Bengalis left you 2) Hardly any muslim moved from India to pakistan post 1947, leaving India with as many Muslim population as Pakistan 3) Your minority population reduced to less than 2% 4) More muslims are being killed in Pakistan due to sectarian violence as compared to India Finally you make a point "I don’t see Muslims as ‘invading marauders’ but as people who brought a superior culture" If you read our South Asian History Islam was brought to India by the Arab Traders well before these Invaders to places like Cochin, Gujarat, Karachi etc.... The fact that you call Islam as "superior culture" tells the kind of mindset you bring to this discussion.
You are what you think you are. So where is the identity crisis?
I It's less of an ID crisis and more of a nation that has lost its mind and soul in process of chasing the material dreams. Regret to say that the topic is too vast and the input too superficial.
@Lubna: You are saying Invader bring superior culture to sub continent and you feel proud on it.That is why you people ditched inferior Indus Vally civilization.But you know Indians are very proud of their five thousand year old civilization,culture,dance,music,custom and everything which is Indian.You know when Invaders were living in caves,Asoka had open hospital for animals in Patliputra,when barbarian were hunting each other,Indians were discussing about concept of Shunya(Zero).When Barbarians were never heard of writing,Kalidasa was writing Shakuntala in India.
@maria, you are the greatest example of what a confused pakistani is about his history, which is what the author is talking about. He was not mentioning punjabis/sindhis etc.,or Al shindhi, etc., he was talking about civilizations!!! ha ha ha what a living example on ET.
Pakistani must not use term India for Baharat because this also challege my identity?
@LiaQaT WaRaiCH If you go to USA, you will find people identifying themselves as Irish American, Italian American, African American, Asian american and so on. If you go to Canada, you will see French people who went there even before the British still striving to keep their heritage as French Canadian. And the Punjabi people are having their share of heritage preserved. So it is not the identity of the conquerors but that of the people who built it brick by brick, is given importance. Thats why USA calls itself a rainbow nation. Now can you see where you are wrong?
The author has found all sorts of problems with Pakistan's current identity but has not offered any solutions to these problems or an alternative identity that can take its place. What should Pakistan's identity be? How can Pakistan justify it's existence on the world map? Should Pakistan follow the Indian model next door and force all of its diverse citizens to identify themselves as Indian first? I will be waiting for round 2 of this article.
I don't know why people become so defensive about their 'Muslim identity'. I for one am proud of my Islamic background and heritage. To me, my real heroes are Mohammed bin Qasim and Mohammed Iqbal. I don't see Muslims as 'invading marauders' but as people who brought a superior culture and belief system to the subcontinent. I am equally proud of my religion just as the Hindus/Sikhs/Jains are equally proud of theirs. The liberal elite are the ones who are sowing an 'identity crisis'. There will be no crisis if we choose to identify ourselves as Muslims first. Our ethnic backgrounds should come second to our religious identity. Pakistan was founded as a country for the Muslims of South Asia. It was not founded as a country to divide Sindhis, Punjabis etc from the rest of the subcontinent.
MAHABAHRAT, for sure is NOT our identity at all .
Crises is NOT there at all just A Hoax planted by the powerful interested dissertations. People keep moving and improving Naturally . Whole of the American Continent( South& North ) are settlers , whats their Identity ? The only permanent phenomena is CHANGE and adjustments which will continue .
Its concocted for fetched blurred vision and being created the so called crises of IDENTITY . Its always been changing improving and realigning as per the situation and circumstances . Even with in INDIA there is huge gap among the East West North and South beside only factor of , MAHABAHARAT . . The Hindu upper class or other casts / classes many of them are NOT locals , its just matter of time spanning from few hundreds of years to thousands of years.The transition and consolidations take some time to re-establish and perpetuate around the world . People have been moving are doing and will continue to do so as the will of Nature's design Can some one tell whats the composition of South and North Americans races,how and why they are being graded and considered as Nations ?
I have seldom come across a native Pakistani who does not take pride in his clan or tribe or district.
I think most Pakistanis know that the culture of their land is a mixture of its geography and history. There is no crisis of identity except among religious zealots who only want to focus on Islamic history and ignore everything else. Pakistan has elements of South Asian, Central Asian and Middle East culture and history in it. Some people may wish to celebrate Islamic history only with the arrival of the Arabs and some people may wish to celebrate the Mughals
Come on have heart live with the changing circumstances which may continue to change .
Pleasantly surprised to read this article and even more so that a PTI member has written it. The author is honest when he takes a swipe at Iqbal – the inspiration for Imran Khan. But the question is that this position on identity is of author's alone or PTI in general and Imran Khan in particular share this. The other day Imran referred to his visit of Sindh like a Ghaznavid attack on pagan India.
Indian History transcends thousands of years while Islam is a mere baby in terms of age. The glorious history of this region and its achievements lies in its ancient Civilizations, mainly Hindu and Buddhist. Islamic history of the region unfortunately glorified raiders and plunderers who looted, pillaged and terrorized locals. When you highlight the wrong history and glorify violence and plunder we get a society like Pakistan wracked by violence, still subscribing to the old adage of might being right. Being Muslims the terrorists have attained the exalted status of our brothers and stakeholders. Non Muslims even though they may be the original indigenous people are aliens who have to be civilized by violence or forced conversion. This regression in the thought process from forward looking to backward looking is taking Pakistan from being the cradle of Civilization to possibly the graveyard of Civilization.
The degeneration in the thought process due to the foisting of a mistaken identity has taken a heavy toll and not finished yet. From being world leaders in thought process, development and innovation for centuries if not thousands of years to becoming the major threat to world Peace, has taken some doing. History will treat Pakistan with harshness if it refuses to see the Light and mend its ways. More violence will not bring glory, mostly destruction. The World today needs people and countries that can contribute knowledge, being anchored to a violent bygone past will prove a burden too heavy to carry. The World does not have time or place for enmity and hatred, it yearns for compassion and progress.
"...resolve our identity crisis..." but just how???
Mohammed Bin Qasim is hero of this nation, he colonized our land and killed many thousand people. He became hero and Raja Dahir who sacrificed his life safeguarding people and country became villian. Such is distortion and myopic state of our nation. Wake up and understand the facts, as British colonization was wrong, so was the Arab. Our hero should be Raja Dahir not Ibn Qasim. Point
The 2 strange things I've noticed.
a) No Pakistani is willing to admit his ancestors were converted by force at all, that is, if he first agrees that his lineage and DNA is Indian origin.
b) The ones that do agree the history is distorted and their ancestors came from Pakistan, they start saying things like "Basant is a secular festival", as if celebrating what is clearly a Hindu origin festival is blasphemous. We saw that recently when Sindh Govt started celebrating the Indian culture and dubbed it Pakistani. When Indians on this forum reminded that it is Indian, there were protests and condemnations.
Even the liberals distort History in Pakistan, by saying Jinnah is a secular guy, when there is evidence clearly of his not-so-secular speeches; or, by saying "Basant is a secular festival", etc.
Everyone distorts history in Pakistan, if you ask me. The only question is the degree.
Good article, but dare I say, except Punjab and Mullahs, no other community whether Sindhi, Balochi, Pushoon or Siraikis hate India. This state owned india-centric hate policy is counter productive that only helps jingoism, and Mullaism. Whether we like it or not, we all are part of this subcontinent, and our past is linked with religions like Hinduism, Budhism and even Sikhism. We share our past, heritage, and languages with India. Lets face the reality and stop living in fake wonderland and. PS:Thanks ET for allowing my comments to publish. Truth must be preached.
The vast of majority of Pakistanis are Muslim (98%) and therefore it makes sense to teach them more about their islamic roots to create a sense of pride and brother/sisterhood amongst them. And this has nothing to do with 'Indian hatred' conspiracy as you point out.
After reading your article, I am ditching my PTI membership and no longer going to vote for PTI. I urge Imran Khan to take notice of this article. He promised us there would be no 'self-hating Pakistanis' in his party and obviously you are one.
Lack of education is the problem as this allowed the politicians to continually lie to the masses with their propaganda.
Exactly, that is why the Pak state must be dissolved for the sake of the people of Pakistan.Any patriot would think of decentralizing the Pak system and dissolving the state to create a separate Punjab.
I was just pondering this the other day. Another interesting factoid is that one of India's most beloved singers, Mohammad Rafi, is actually a Muslim Punjabi from the areas constituting West Punjab. Muslim Punjabis are the predominant ethnic group within Pakistan. Mr. Rafi went on to sing many bhajans and national patriotic songs for India apart from his contributions to the Indian film industry. His first wife even divorced him and left to Pakistan, although her circumstances were rather personal due to a loss suffered during partition violence. Despite all this, he stayed on in India! I wonder what his opinions of Jinnah, the mullah brigade and their millions of followers were?
I have always wondered if Mohammad Rafi were to travel to his homeland of West Punjab today (now in Pakistan), how odd he would feel as there might not be any emotional connection on any level to the concocted history of the state of Pakistan and the overt Islamism that seems to be rampant across all its corners.
The author is currently busy in resoling his identity crisis; let us wait till he has found what he is looking for?
Rex Minor
I don't think native Pakistanis have lost their identity and link with their soil. Sindis are proud of Sind and its ancient history. They remind everyone that Al Sind is mentioned in ancient texts as a nation. Punjabis are proud of the Punjab and its reputation - they talk about being Khokars or Ranas or Bhattis and revere the Sufi poetry of Bulleh Shah. Pashtuns and Baluchis are likewise proud of their lands and tribes. In short everyone is proud of their province and the country Pakistan. I note that a lot of Muhajirs from India like to play on a supposed link with Saudi Arabia by saying they are Siddiqui or Syeds or Turk and so on but I have seldom come across a native Pakistani who does not take pride in his clan or tribe or district. They are not obsessed with race or geneology like those Pakistanis who migrated from India. I think that the obsession with origin among Muhajirs has to do with the caste system they had in India by coming into contact with the dominant Hindu culture and its caste based hierarchy. For them a Syed is like a Brahmin. Native Pakistanis marry across all tribal and clan affiliations although economic status is the main issue. I think educated Pakistanis know that Islam is hardly 1500 years old but that the history and people of Pakistan go back to the first human civilization.
It is said that history books are written by the victors. Wait till the Taliban get done rewriting history!
I applaud you and people like you, for it is because of you guys I feel there is still hope in Pakistan. Your succinct and well written piece of work, Mr Randhawa, pin points the main problem we are facing as a nation. Thank you.
Well done Mr. Randhawa! For a sometime i have been thinking along the same line and do firmly believe that this is were the core of our problem lies. I do think the current state of Pakistan does not represents the history nor the people of this region. Once again keep up the good work. sohail, USA
I think most Pakistanis know that the culture of their land is a mixture of its geography and history. There is no crisis of identity except among religious zealots who only want to focus on Islamic history and ignore everything else. Pakistan has elements of South Asian, Central Asian and Middle East culture and history in it. Some people may wish to celebrate Islamic history only with the arrival of the Arabs and some people may wish to celebrate the Mughals coming down from Central Asia while others may wish to celebrate Indus Valley civilization which is existed before Hinduism. Some want to talk about the presence of Bhuddism and Hinduism for part of its history too. People who know Pakistan's history are aware of the richness of history but a large part of society has never taken studies in history and so are confused. But I think you are making the issue bigger than it is since most Pakistanis understand all these influences on the country's identity.