As many of you know, not all people that inhabit that Pakistan are ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ or ‘Im proud to be a Pakistani’.
There has been a considerable call for seperate independent states from all provinces except Punjab.
Lets examine the nationalism situation in Pakistan.
Before independece in 1947, the province with the most considerable opposition to joining Pakistan was, NWFP. The Afghan king had wanted the british to give the people of NWFP 2 more options besides the options of joing india or pakistan. Those 2 options were an independent state called Pukhtoonkhwa and accsesion to Afghanistan. Well the Afghan king didnt get his desire and the desire for autonmy eventually died down.
But in recent years due to the influx of Afghan refugees, there has been renewed intreset and desire for Pukhtoonkhwa or Pashtoonistan as some people call it. A gretaer Pukhtoonkhwa would also include Balochistan.
Many of the Pashtoons I have taked to have a great amount of hatred for Punjabis. They say Punjabis exploit, them, NWFP and their resoruces. One of the reason they cite is that 85% of gov’t jobs are held by punjabi’s while the ratio should be more balanced because the population of pashtoons is around 20%.
These people want a seprate state, some want acession to Afghanistan.
Then you have Balochistan. The land which is ruled by Nawabs, Khans and Sardars. this province has had the biggest call for an independent state. As some of you knwo Balochistan isvery rich in minerals and natural gas. Again many Blaochis hate Punjabis for exploiting them. They say that Punjabis get sui gas by pipelines yet this same sui gas is brought to balochis by gas cylinders!
Also they cite that in Balochistan of the people that go to universities in balochistan, only 10% of them are balochis!.
Sindh also has had a great deal of nationliasm. they have also wanted a sperate state, mostly because of teh quarelling with mohajirs.
In the end, most nationalists on the whole balmes punjabis for exploting them from their reources. Pakistan is not a nation where everyone is loyal to one motherland.
You have a point, in interior Balochistan and NWFP people hardly know that they are Pakistani and couldn't care less, but do you blame them?
As for the Sindhis then a secular India would have been more suited to their psyche because they're more mystic than religious so a country created for Muslims in the name of Islam isn't of any significance to them.
It's only the Punjabis and Mohajirs who were truly nationalistic but I've seen that amongst the Mohajirs nationalism is dying down now and I'm sure with them having close family on the eastern side (with whom they are now relinking) they'd rather it was one country again.
Well I agree with the nationalists to a certain extent, Punjabis have domianted Pakistani politics. And this opinion is coming from a Kashmiri.
For example, In the millitary when people are given promotion, most promotions are given to punjabis regradless of qualifications. The same applies for goveremnt. The 'safarish' rule applies, pujabis do 'safarish' for each other and thats why punjabis get most jobs.
Smaller provinces should join together and fight together in that case... But when you have smaller provinces argueing amongst themselves all the times, then what do you expect?
They dont really argue amognst themselves, most nationalists just have a deep hatred for punjabis and their domination. And I agree with Pakpatriot that if they joined together they could be a bit stronger, but right now the almost all the country is controlled by punjabis.
And other ethnciities are not fairly represented.
When the NFC was being debated, the other provinces agreed on a new plan, but it had to be shelved because Sindh was dead set against it.
Sindh itself cannot come to any kind of reconciliatiion with its own parties let alone the other provinces. Pasthuns seem to hate everyone including Moharjirs and Punjabis.
I do not subscribe to this at all. Only a Punjabi will not hire a person for the sole reason that he is a Punjabi. Balochs, Sindhis, Pushtoons, Kashmiris, Karachites give preference to hiring their own clans.
You can find Kashmiris in all walks of life. At least Kashmiris shouldn’t complain.
ethnic nationalism is not limited to our beloved pakistan. it exists in india, china afgh, ect. this is such a grave and dangerous issue. just look at the consequences of ignoring ethnic nationalism in Afghanistan (pashtuns vs. hazaras vs.kabul dwellers)yikes! this topic has come to recieve a bit more attention now as some literature is being produced on "competing" nationalism but still i think there is more that needs be done.
This whole ethnic nationalism bakwas is just coming from a very very small but vocal minority, some of these people can be seen on these forums, with a gazillion banned nicks, just to vent out their hatred and anger towards Pakistan. The average person in NWFP or Sindh is more concerned about his livelihood than to wage a war on Punjab.
And witchdr is right, everyone has a preference to their clans, its natural. But then its the people, you cant blame the Government.
Nothing will be fixed without democracy... Its no ones fault that Pakistan isnt a democracy except the elitest groups in our society, the Feudal landlords/politicans, tribal leaders, Army, Mullahs, bussiness men etc... These groups arent limited Punjab, but they are suffocating all of Pakistan...
Yea you are right patriot, these people are everywhere. the sardars in balochistan who tax their tenant farmers heavily and treat them unfairly, the nawabs of NWFP.
Pardon me but according to Baluch nationalists, there are 29 tribal chiefs in Baluchistan and out of these 29 tribal chiefs, 23 are allied with the central government of Pakistan. Moreover, tribal chiefs, fuedals, and nawabs, are very effective instruments to control populations colonialy because you don't have to handle large populations but few indivduals. By making the few feudals of Sindh, for example, privileged, you can rule all Sindhis.
All the nawabs and big landlords have been allied with successive powers...they collaborated with British and after British their "center of loyalty" shifted. They can worship any power to retain their status. They are forces of the status-quo and they will collaborate with existing national/regional/global powers to retain the status-quo at local as well as broader level. Most of them have the natural tendency to expand their power and if that is not possible, to retain their power at existing level.
So these are not only the tribal chiefs etc. to deprive people...it is the whole neo-colonial structure keeping the tribal chiefs in power.
Thats the problem, that the govt is run by the same people that control the masses. The nawabs and tribal leaders are working with the govt and military to oppress the people. Its like I said, it about the elitists in our society who are oppressing and denying the rights of the comman man. The groups in case you didnt read it the first time are Army, politicians/ feudal lords, nawabs, and tribal leaders, and the Mullahs..
Real Democracy with all its proper instituation may help to break the the control of these people and prevent them from abusing power.
Whether you like it or, not no one here is willing to accpet you naive assumption that all problems stem from Punjab...
PakPatriot, personally I am indebted to a lot of enlightened and honest Punjabis because their writings enhanced my knowledge and understanding of the things. To name a few, I will mention Ali Abbas Jalalpuri, Dr. Mubarak Ali, Dr. Mehdi Hassan, etc. I don't blame Punjabi masses either.
But you cannot deny the fact that there is a sizeable upper and middle class in Punjab that is in favor of maintaining the status-quo. Allied, in junior parntnership or whatever, with this are the stooges from other ethnicities. Tragically, this class is also destroying the Punjabi language and culture for their interests.
Can an anti-status quo movement succeed in Punjab?
It cant, infact it cant in any other province either. I already mentioned that Pakistan is dominated by these people. They are the rich and wealthy...
But I admit there are many who beneift from the status quo, although you will have to define this status quo for me and how these people benefit. But assuming there is a status quo, this due to greed more the then ethnic pride.. But I dont know if its as widespread as you might think. I dont know anyone in my family who are against other provinces and their development, I have family that are both upper and lower middle class, and havent really met many who have espoused that idea. But im sure there are many in Punjab who are greedy enough to want to horde evrythng.
Punjabi culture is destoryed by these people your right... I mean, Punjabi isnt allowed to be spoken in state schools, and its not even spoken by the elites in Punjab society... Sad.
This is the stupidest argument doled out by the modern day commie lefties. Most of the land owner families were “collaborating” with Mughals, Tughlaks, the Slave kings and you name it much before the British showed up on the scene.
p.s. If collaboration with British was so bad then why Gandhi, Azad, and other Bindi nationalists were the military recruiters for the Brits? May be they all feared the dominance of Punjab+Pashtoons in the British army and set out to get Biharis included in the list too.
Darn! Another Bharti nationalist called Gupta blames Pakistan. This time for “rumors” that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was the official recruiter for the Brits. O Bharati! Do not treat the movie Gandhi as the source of your knoweldge. That is just a movie and not a documentry. Read Gupt Read! You may learn something about Bharat.
Here are some quotes:
“Gandhi himself had twice volunteered for service in this war, in France and in Mesopotamia, because he had convinced himself that he owed the empire that sacrifice in return for it’s military protection.” (See Martin Green, Gandhi: Voice of a New Age Revolutionary, p. 267) * http://members.tripod.com/~INDIA_RESOURCE/gandhi.html
Mahatma Gandhi Becomes the Crusader of Independence Gandhi sincerely believed that the British Empire was good for the welfare of the people of India. Therefore he supported the government with all the powers within his means. He even campaigned to recruit soldiers to join the British Army…* http://ssinha.com/biogandhi.htm
Gandhi’s belief in non-violence did not preclude recruitment for the British army…*
The Life and Death of Mahatma Gandhi, by Robert Payne, E.P. Dutton & Co. Inc., New York, 1969, 703 pages.
p.s. I have to educate every new generation of Bharatis and Pakistanis about the real history of the subcontinent. Schools in both the countries are doing poor job.