Tweet
Pashtuns generally blame each and everything on few other entities like Pakistani army, ISI , Punjab and Punjabis etc. We feel satisfied that we put the blame on Punjabis and our work is done. In this article I would like to have a threadbare analysis of this trend of Pashtuns to blame others specially Punjabis for all the problems of Pashtuns.
For me Punjab is a land, a province of Pakistan and India and all the people living there are Punjabis who may speak different languages as Seraiki, Hindko, Potohari, Gujri, and even Pashto. Punjabi is not a race or ethnic group like Pashtuns. Even a Pashtun who lives in the province of Punjab is a Punjabi because he is living there but by race or language or ethnicity he or she is Pashtun. Using Punjabi as a race for people is a misnomer which must be rectified. Punjab is land of five rivers derived from Panj means five and Ab which means water.
Punjabi as a language is a very weak language; it’s very similar to Urdu and has never been a medium of instruction or a court language. It does not have any strong literature as compared to Pashto. Pashto has a rich literature and is the official language of a country Afghanistan. There is no any such culture as Punjabi; it can be Indian, Hindu or Sikh but not Punjabi as such. There is no Punjabi nationalism like Pashtun nationalism. There is no Punjabi movement for promulgation of any Punjabi culture on Pashtuns even the Punjabis themselves are leaving their language and culture and all these educated Punjabis now mostly speak Urdu and not Panjabi.
Keeping all this in view I don’t understand why we Pashtuns are so much afraid of Punjab and Punjabis and blaming them for all our faults and problems. I see in a remote Pashtun village when they write Urdu or Dari on their sign boards, who are that Panjabi who is telling him not to write Pashto instead.
The basic purpose of this article is that we may not blame Punjabis for our problems, Punjabis are culturally weak people and are generally not nationalists .Rarely they organize events like Alamami Panjabi conference but it’s the right of any people to have such conferences.
Some Pashtun circles think that Punjabis are very clever people. I agree that they are concerned with their commercial and agricultural activities. This way they are intelligent, not like Pashtuns who instead of business and other useful activities are involved in religious extremism and terrorism .Majority of Punjabis live in rural areas .They are simple and innocent people . As they are in majority in number, about 49 % in Pakistan , that is why they may seem to be oppressors , and some of them may be really oppressors, but instead of blaming them we Pashtuns should make ourselves strong enough not to let Punjabis to grab our rights
Pashtuns should be involved in more productive and educational activities instead of tribal wars and terrorism and smuggling etc .Lets forget Punjabis as cause of our problems , lets make ourselves strong by education, commerce, agriculture, culture , sports, media etc
I want to generate useful, intellectual discussion on few myths that we are living with them for the last many centuries, much have been written and spoken on the other side of what I write like Punjabis being enemies of Pashtuns, Tajiks being our enemies etc
Look at the history of Pakistan, has there being any important Panjabi president or prime minister , no ,the same in Afghanistan, all presidents/kings were Pashtuns(for Tajiks and Pashtuns. I am writing a new article) in Pakistan, Muhamamd Ali Jinah, Liaqat Ali Khan, Ayub khan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, Musharaf, Asif Ali Zardari , etc all are non Punjabis, even Nawaz Sharif is a Kashmiri, not pure Panjabi.The present prime minister Gilani is Seraiki, not pure Panjabi. What I want to prove is that the ones who remained at the helm of affairs in Pakistan were non Punjabis.
Then Punjabis in Pakistan are not that much nationalists as Pashtuns, Sindhis, Baluchs. They being a race are a very weak group, there are many races and castes, even they are not a nation or one race, and the people in the area of Punjab are Punjabis, not like Pashtuns who are one race, one blood, one genealogy. Punjabis speak many languages, have many religions, many races, many castes, different cultures, there is not a single political known party on the name of Punjabis as Pashtunkhwah Mili awami Party etc,
The killers in Pashtuns areas are government people , not Punjabis as a race who are coming to Pashtunkhwah to kill Pashtuns, being their enemies as in a genocide, We don’t have any Panjabi movement against Pashtuns, Pashtuns are being killed because of their own faults, because of international politics and because of state policies not because of any Panjabi adverse movement against Pashtuns
Pashtuns may understand this harsh reality. Instead of blaming Punjabis, we must concentrate on our pitfalls, lets think creatively, not on these traditional lines that our misfortunes are because of Punjabis or others, lets think differently now. My approach will seem bizarre to many but if you think with a impartial objective mind you may find some truth in what I request here
We may not compare the case of former East Pakistan now Bangladesh. First because it was a wrong decision to make Bangladesh part of Pakistan being 1000 miles away and India an enemy in between, second, Bangladesh being a different culture and language totally different, third it was because of the non Punjabis Ayub khan and Bhutto that they started separating . That was a problem between the two wings, East and West, not between Punjabis and Bengalis two opponent races , it was not a racial genocide , it was a political phenomenon.
Another resembling case is the name Hindu. Hindu is again not a race or nation, the people living near the river Indus are Hindus, whether they speak Hindi or not, there are thousands of languages in India, thousands of races and many religions all are not Hindus . Another connotation of being Hindu is religiously Hindu, but again Hinduism is not purely a religion .Its a social order. People can take name from the area where they live but this does not make them a race. It will have a name like Punjabis, living in the area of Punjab but racially they are either Gujars, Rajpoots, Chudris, Sardars, Jats, even Baluchs, Pashtuns etc
One person can have many identities, being a human being, then living in the area of Punjab, Panjabi, by race Pashtun, by religion Muslim, by political nationality Pakistani, by profession teacher, by blood relation son or father, etc
My point is Pashtuns are superior to Punjabis being one race , one language, one blood not like Punjabis who are a diverse group of races and people and religions Pashtuns should not afraid of Punjabis. Punjabis can’t do anything against Pashtuns. Pashtuns are enemies of their own selves, not the other way round that Punjabis being a race or people are their enemies.
One might know that the sociological or political terms like NATION, RACE, PEOPLE, TRIBE, EVEN RELIGION etc are very difficult to be defined. There are various aspects of these definitions and various approaches and opinions. I will not get stuck in these intricacies, and I agree that Panjabi has its own identity but this identity is not that strong as that of Pashtuns
What I want to prove here is that Punjabis as a race or social order or tribe, or cultural group, or as a nation are not enemies of Pashtuns. They are not bent upon destroying Pashtuns , it can be a policy which can be Panjabi or non Panjabi origin but Panjabi whatever you call them nation or race , are not as such enemies of Pashtuns , its just a myth making Punjabis as a nation or race responsible for Pashtun misfortunes. We should not show supremacy or difference of races as it will be racism, the same I will try to use in my favor that we as a race may not blame the whole Panjabi people as enemies of Pashtuns, it is generalizing things.
Punjab or any other entity cant rule, can’t subdue Pashtuns if Pashtuns in Pakistan are strong enough to counter any effort of subjugation by others. If we have the right leaders, nationalist parties rule Northern and Southern Pashtunkhwah, Tribal areas are merged with a united Pashtunkhwah province with full autonomy then all this sense of deprivation and inferiority complex of blaming others specially Punjabis will be vanished.
For me Punjab is a land, a province of Pakistan and India and all the people living there are Punjabis who may speak different languages as Seraiki, Hindko, Potohari, Gujri, and even Pashto. Punjabi is not a race or ethnic group like Pashtuns. Even a Pashtun who lives in the province of Punjab is a Punjabi because he is living there but by race or language or ethnicity he or she is Pashtun. Using Punjabi as a race for people is a misnomer which must be rectified. Punjab is land of five rivers derived from Panj means five and Ab which means water.
Punjabi as a language is a very weak language; it’s very similar to Urdu and has never been a medium of instruction or a court language. It does not have any strong literature as compared to Pashto. Pashto has a rich literature and is the official language of a country Afghanistan. There is no any such culture as Punjabi; it can be Indian, Hindu or Sikh but not Punjabi as such. There is no Punjabi nationalism like Pashtun nationalism. There is no Punjabi movement for promulgation of any Punjabi culture on Pashtuns even the Punjabis themselves are leaving their language and culture and all these educated Punjabis now mostly speak Urdu and not Panjabi.
Keeping all this in view I don’t understand why we Pashtuns are so much afraid of Punjab and Punjabis and blaming them for all our faults and problems. I see in a remote Pashtun village when they write Urdu or Dari on their sign boards, who are that Panjabi who is telling him not to write Pashto instead.
The basic purpose of this article is that we may not blame Punjabis for our problems, Punjabis are culturally weak people and are generally not nationalists .Rarely they organize events like Alamami Panjabi conference but it’s the right of any people to have such conferences.
Some Pashtun circles think that Punjabis are very clever people. I agree that they are concerned with their commercial and agricultural activities. This way they are intelligent, not like Pashtuns who instead of business and other useful activities are involved in religious extremism and terrorism .Majority of Punjabis live in rural areas .They are simple and innocent people . As they are in majority in number, about 49 % in Pakistan , that is why they may seem to be oppressors , and some of them may be really oppressors, but instead of blaming them we Pashtuns should make ourselves strong enough not to let Punjabis to grab our rights
Pashtuns should be involved in more productive and educational activities instead of tribal wars and terrorism and smuggling etc .Lets forget Punjabis as cause of our problems , lets make ourselves strong by education, commerce, agriculture, culture , sports, media etc
I want to generate useful, intellectual discussion on few myths that we are living with them for the last many centuries, much have been written and spoken on the other side of what I write like Punjabis being enemies of Pashtuns, Tajiks being our enemies etc
Look at the history of Pakistan, has there being any important Panjabi president or prime minister , no ,the same in Afghanistan, all presidents/kings were Pashtuns(for Tajiks and Pashtuns. I am writing a new article) in Pakistan, Muhamamd Ali Jinah, Liaqat Ali Khan, Ayub khan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto, Musharaf, Asif Ali Zardari , etc all are non Punjabis, even Nawaz Sharif is a Kashmiri, not pure Panjabi.The present prime minister Gilani is Seraiki, not pure Panjabi. What I want to prove is that the ones who remained at the helm of affairs in Pakistan were non Punjabis.
Then Punjabis in Pakistan are not that much nationalists as Pashtuns, Sindhis, Baluchs. They being a race are a very weak group, there are many races and castes, even they are not a nation or one race, and the people in the area of Punjab are Punjabis, not like Pashtuns who are one race, one blood, one genealogy. Punjabis speak many languages, have many religions, many races, many castes, different cultures, there is not a single political known party on the name of Punjabis as Pashtunkhwah Mili awami Party etc,
The killers in Pashtuns areas are government people , not Punjabis as a race who are coming to Pashtunkhwah to kill Pashtuns, being their enemies as in a genocide, We don’t have any Panjabi movement against Pashtuns, Pashtuns are being killed because of their own faults, because of international politics and because of state policies not because of any Panjabi adverse movement against Pashtuns
Pashtuns may understand this harsh reality. Instead of blaming Punjabis, we must concentrate on our pitfalls, lets think creatively, not on these traditional lines that our misfortunes are because of Punjabis or others, lets think differently now. My approach will seem bizarre to many but if you think with a impartial objective mind you may find some truth in what I request here
We may not compare the case of former East Pakistan now Bangladesh. First because it was a wrong decision to make Bangladesh part of Pakistan being 1000 miles away and India an enemy in between, second, Bangladesh being a different culture and language totally different, third it was because of the non Punjabis Ayub khan and Bhutto that they started separating . That was a problem between the two wings, East and West, not between Punjabis and Bengalis two opponent races , it was not a racial genocide , it was a political phenomenon.
Another resembling case is the name Hindu. Hindu is again not a race or nation, the people living near the river Indus are Hindus, whether they speak Hindi or not, there are thousands of languages in India, thousands of races and many religions all are not Hindus . Another connotation of being Hindu is religiously Hindu, but again Hinduism is not purely a religion .Its a social order. People can take name from the area where they live but this does not make them a race. It will have a name like Punjabis, living in the area of Punjab but racially they are either Gujars, Rajpoots, Chudris, Sardars, Jats, even Baluchs, Pashtuns etc
One person can have many identities, being a human being, then living in the area of Punjab, Panjabi, by race Pashtun, by religion Muslim, by political nationality Pakistani, by profession teacher, by blood relation son or father, etc
My point is Pashtuns are superior to Punjabis being one race , one language, one blood not like Punjabis who are a diverse group of races and people and religions Pashtuns should not afraid of Punjabis. Punjabis can’t do anything against Pashtuns. Pashtuns are enemies of their own selves, not the other way round that Punjabis being a race or people are their enemies.
One might know that the sociological or political terms like NATION, RACE, PEOPLE, TRIBE, EVEN RELIGION etc are very difficult to be defined. There are various aspects of these definitions and various approaches and opinions. I will not get stuck in these intricacies, and I agree that Panjabi has its own identity but this identity is not that strong as that of Pashtuns
What I want to prove here is that Punjabis as a race or social order or tribe, or cultural group, or as a nation are not enemies of Pashtuns. They are not bent upon destroying Pashtuns , it can be a policy which can be Panjabi or non Panjabi origin but Panjabi whatever you call them nation or race , are not as such enemies of Pashtuns , its just a myth making Punjabis as a nation or race responsible for Pashtun misfortunes. We should not show supremacy or difference of races as it will be racism, the same I will try to use in my favor that we as a race may not blame the whole Panjabi people as enemies of Pashtuns, it is generalizing things.
Punjab or any other entity cant rule, can’t subdue Pashtuns if Pashtuns in Pakistan are strong enough to counter any effort of subjugation by others. If we have the right leaders, nationalist parties rule Northern and Southern Pashtunkhwah, Tribal areas are merged with a united Pashtunkhwah province with full autonomy then all this sense of deprivation and inferiority complex of blaming others specially Punjabis will be vanished.
Comment