Yesterday I saw a car with these Arabic words written on it: Ana al Bakistani (I am a Pakistani). Though our ‘al Bakistanis’ show hysteric love for their ‘Spiritual Masters’, it got me thinking: Pakistanis are a mixed breed, we are descendants of Hindus, Sikhs, Afghans, Turks, Central Asians and of course Arabs. But most Pakistanis forget this fact and only try to relate to their Saudi masters. Religion has perforated in almost every corner of Pakistan and we have forgotten a well established fact that religion is only a part of culture, not the whole culture.
We have a diverse culture in which Arabian culture has contributed in the form of mosques, madrassas and some other rituals. We should not forget this reality because of blinded religious fervor to a culture that is totally different from us and is established thousands of miles away from us. Most of the Muslim countries have their own cultures like Iran, Turkey, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Indonesia.
We are infants in terms of nationhood (only if we want us to be titled so, otherwise that’s a different debate), but we have yet to come up with a national identity, something on which all the different cultures, races, castes and religions in Pakistan can agree upon. For that we need more than religion because in the last 68 years we have proved that religion can’t be the sole reason to keep any nation united. Religion did help us create a federation, but perhaps it won’t be of much help in making a nation. We have to keep in mind our cultural mingling, ethnic reformation, language interaction and of course a strong political structure.
There are examples of nations with the same demographic and cultural mix as that of us but most of them have successfully learned to live with harmony. In fact the super power USA is a blend of uncountable ethnicities and nationalities, so is Canada and Australia.
What our ‘al Bakistanis’ need to realise is the fact that there’s no shame in accepting historical facts, so that we can move on and create an identity of our own, instead of becoming a shuttle between Arabic, Iranian, Afghan, Central Asian, Turkish and Indian identities.
SADIA KHAN
Okara
''Pakistanis are a mixed breed, we are descendants of Hindus, Sikhs, Afghans, Turks, Central Asians and of course Arabs. But most Pakistanis forget this fact and only try to relate to their Saudi masters. Religion has perforated in almost every corner of Pakistan and we have forgotten a well established fact that religion is only a part of culture, not the whole culture.'' Too much obsession for religion does not do any good for a nation.
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