A group of people that label themselves as something and think they are Superior than others due to that label and only want to marry people of the same label??? If it walks like a duck… sounds like a duck… then its probably a duck. Even if its not a “per se Indian Caste System” … it is still pathetic we have something like this in Pakistani society.
Your talking about the Mughal empire and such? Yea I was aware. But I am aware of the fact that there were huge populations of hindus and sikhs that also lived in the “Pakistan” area of India. Hence the huge migration post partition??? All the stories I heard from daadi was about how she grew up with sikh and hindu friends and neighbors. And as expected, their influence was felt in the area??? Just like how we pick up customs and traditions from goray people when we live among them … it worked like that with them too during those times.
And also - you are assuming that all muslims were born muslim. We all converted at some point in this area of the world. Mentalities that were passed down from generation to generation and stayed in society… can be understood. My own family was Sikh only 5 generations ago. That is not that long ago… while I find certain traditions, customs, and mentalities bizaare … I don’t have any trouble understanding why certain Sikh traditions and mentalities are still lingering despite being Muslim and living in post partition Pakistan.
Ok . I don’t know anything. But I can tell you one thing, my families “Zaat” has nothing to do with our surname, our ethnicity, clan, or tribe. From what my family has explained to me - it has to do with the fact that we own a lot of land… mainly entire pinds in Pakistan. People that work on the land or have other sorts of professions have other “zaats” … and in the past have not been “worthy” enough to marry into our family… even despite the fact that they themselves may have made something of themselves. But just the fact that their “Khandaan” is not land owners and not of the same “zaat” as us… marriage proposals were shot down. To me this is pathetic and seems just like a caste system like practice to me. You tell me its not so ok. But I’ll still believe it is.
Thank god that my parents have moved away from this stupid practice/system/whatever you want to call it.