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From Lahore, Punjab to Wana, Wazirsitan. [Islam, Liberalism & Extremism]

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Asian.Century

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From Lahore to Wana

By Nihan Saeed | DAWN.COM

Religious extremism did not grow in Wana. Rather its origins can be traced to Punjab. The dagger which drew the first blood in the name of faith was used in Lahore and not in Miranshah. The wind of fanaticism had already swept through the land of five rivers before it shook the mighty Hindukush.

There are two truths. Firstly, in the cultural parlance of the sub-continent, the word ‘Punjab’ evokes a sense of festivity. For centuries, the Punjabi soil has been nurturing the lavish crops of liberalism .By tradition, the Punjabis are known for their tolerance and open –mindedness. Music, jest, pluralism and women are the staples of the Punjabi culture.

Yet another truth is that in this land of saints, communal hatred devoured a million lives in 1947. Six years later, it was again Punjab where houses of Ahmedis were torched. Also, Punjab staged the initial enactments of the gory drama of sectarian carnage in 1980s.

What a tragic irony! But there is nothing illogical about it. The fall of Punjab from lofty liberalism to lowly fanaticism is perfectly explainable in terms of 3 factors: post-partition sentiments, bureaucratic opportunism and the Zia-ul-Haq factor.

The killings, rape and plunder which ravaged the united Punjab in 1947 left an indelible imprint on the collective Punjabi psyche. First, the scramble for the wealth and women of infidels which ensued in the wake of partition re-defined opportunism. Most heinous of the crimes were justified in the name of religion. Those who indulged in these crimes took pride in this savagery. It was a trend-setter. As the smoke billowing out of the then Hindu mohallah of Shahalmi marred the skyline of Lahore, the ominous clouds of religious violence also gathered on the horizon of Pakistan.

Secondly, Hindus emerged as a perennial foe. Battle-lines were loud and clear. Every bad thing that happened to the new country was swiftly declared as Hindu handiwork. Gradually, Jews, Communists and Christians also took their seats in the Hall of Paranoia. From Liaquat Ali Khan to Osama bin Laden, all misfortunes have conveniently been imputed to the ‘foreign’ hand.

Thirdly, once the Hindus were gone, the next step was cultural cleansing. It was preached that if socio-cultural basis of the society was not to be re-oriented in religious terms than what was the point in creating a new country. The epithet “Hindu tradition” emerged as a fearsome prohibition and with the passage of time besakhi, basant, bindi and saree got equated with Hinduism and were denounced.

While the public had emotionally weakened, the bureaucracy cool headedly exploited the situation for its own good. As the country passed from a vice-regal age into an independent democracy, the bureaucracy suddenly found itself in a vulnerable position. Since its creation in 1792 as Covenanted Civil Service, the bureaucracy had been specifically designed to serve the interests of foreign rulers. With the Deputy Commissioner as linchpin of a repressive law and order apparatus it had always taken pride in being in-accessible to the natives. It was thus natural that it feared and resisted democracy at a local as well as national level.

Democracy meant local government was in the hands of elected representatives but the local government has always been a nightmare for Pakistani bureaucracy. In order to subvert it an alliance emerged at the district level. Bureaucracy needed feudals for support. The latter derived sanctity from the local pulpit .In short, democracy was declared un-Islamic by the trio. The common man was denied justice and the flames of his deprivation ultimately exploded into a conflagration which tends to jeopardise our very existence.

Like all other areas, the education system was also in the hands of the bureaucracy rather than educationists. The CSP Secretaries of Education sidelined the genuine educationists and devised syllabi which deliberately distorted facts .Fiction was valued more than facts and doubt was equated with heresy. The love for land was a sin and invaders were presented as crusaders. If education had been in control of Urdu medium “masters” we could have condoned this lapse, but an unpardonable sin was committed by CSPs who prided on their Oxbridge grooming.

Though impeccably westernised in their personal lives, these bureaucrats patronised reactionaries and formulated foreign and domestic policies which labeled liberal forces as security concern. This was the dawn of national hypocrisy. It should not be forgotten that the worst opponents to the progressive and the populist Bhutto regime were the bureaucrats .His sin of empowering the people at the expense of Mullah-Choudhary-DC triangle was never forgiven.

Next enters Zia, the military dictator haunted by the ghost of Bhutto. A villain had to be created out of Bhutto. The only way was to condemn him as a bad Muslim. This was the only way to outbalance the Bhutto phenomenon. The doctrine of Divine Right was retrieved from the dustbin of history .An aggressive Islamisation began. The masses were weaned from Bhuttoism by pandering to their ideological weaknesses. Hudood, Zakat and Usher and blasphemy laws were designed to compensate people for the loss of democracy and fundamental rights.

Punjab was worst affected. First, it was the base of the PPP. While the fortress of Punjab could be conquered by floggings in Lahore Fort the hearts of Punjabis could be won only in the name of God. The public was brainwashed into believing that vote for liberal forces was an irreligious act. Zia did not fail. Since 1977 Punjab is the only province which has consistently been ruled by the rightist parties compared to PPP, ANP, BNP, MQM, etc in other provinces.

Secondly, as the military was fundamentally Punjabi so when the military machine was re-engineered on the Ziaist model, Punjab suffered the most .Army men are part of this society. When they rule, society imbibes their influence. As Punjab sent more sons to the Army it was more susceptible to conservatism. One example is that Potohar belt is more conservative than rest of Punjab .Contrary to the popular belief, while South Punjab might have been used as camping ground, yet these people have not traditionally elected rightist parties. In fact, is it a coincidence that in upper Punjab, the most prolific source of military recruitment, slogans like Lal Masjid and drone attacks decides the election results, as liberal forces are almost non-existent there.

The fate of sanity was sealed in 1979.The thunder of Soviet tanks in Kabul was music to Zia’s ears. The regime was provided with a much-needed raison d’ etre for its existence. The slogan of jihad was raised with much fanfare and it caught the fancy of the Punjabi youth. Punjab is a fertile land and seeds of fanaticism which had been lavishlythrown all over the province by Zia soon had a bumper crop of ‘tanzeems’ and ‘lashkars” .While they busied themselves in a jihad against infidels in Kabul, Srinagar and Amritsar, a parallel jihad got underway at campuses which manifested itself in victimisation of Ahmedi students, enforcement of dress codes for women and rumpus at social events.

Zia made an average Pakistani take patriotism as synonymous with Islamic fundamentalism. This thinking is getting stronger. No one is today bothered about the fact that Osama stayed in our land. We are only concerned as to why we failed to prevent his killing.

We, the Punjabis, always have deluded ourselves with a false complacence. Whenever confronted with the fact of extremism in Punjab, we console ourselves that Punjab will never fall to extremists as it has always cherished ‘moderates’. We should not live in history. It is time to face the reality. The shrines of Sufis who taught us tolerance are locked up in Punjab today. For 24 years, we kept telling ourselves that Bengalis will not leave us because the Muslim League was formed in Dhaka and the Lahore Resolution was moved by a Bengali Leader .We must not feign the same ignorance to reality this time.

From Lahore to Wana | Metropolitan | DAWN.COM
 
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A well written article. I know Punjabis are extremely a great race, rich, intelligent, Warrior Fighters, excellent Managers and Administrators as compared to Sindhis or Mohjairs etc etc. Although one or two Punjabi do leg-pulling of each other. The article by DAWN News is biased in a way that after destroying Sindh, Khyber Paktunkhawa, Balochistan the target has shifted to Punjab the most well-off and organised, but,

The roots of our problems are in justification of ills when it serves us. Muslim/ Pakistani history is distorted to create saints out of criminals. Time and again we condone violence, crimes and criminals when they serve us under the disguise of religion and fake glory. I would like to sight few verses from Iqbal titled ” Punjabi Musalman “. Mind you Iqbal himself was Punjabi. The point is not to pick on ethnicity but the area that plays a great deal of influence on everything that happens in Pakistan. What happened to Muslims in 1947 is important to remember but equally important to remember what so called Muslims did to non Muslims. Our one sided history only shows brutality on Indian side but no mention of what state the non Muslims left Pakistan side. By the way these verses could easily be titled ” Muslim of today ” instead of ” Punjabi Muslim “.

Mazhab main buhat taza pasand iski tabeeat
Manzil koi karlay to guzarta hai buhat jald
Tehqeeq ka masla ho to shirkat nahein karta
Ho khail mureedi ka to hurta hai buhat jald
Taweel ka phanda koi syyad laga day
Yeh shaak-e-nasheeman say utarta hai buhat jald
 
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This introspection is very much needed for Pakistanis to think about the direction in which the nation is moving. Hope Pakistan learns from its mistakes and makes course correction. The Subcontinent was ruled by Muslims for 1000 years, who were they and what did they do to rule successfully?

We are pointing at province or ethnic politics unnecessarily.
 
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We would have to think beyond race, colour, language, ethnicity if we want to get out of this mess in pakistan

Ghulami main na kaam aati hain shamsheerain, na tadbeerain
Jo ho shok-e-yaqeen paida tou cut jaati hain zanjeerain
Koi andaza ker sakta hai iss kay zor-e-bazu ka?
Nigha-e-mard-e-momin say badal jati hain taqdeerain
 
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A well written article. I know Punjabis are extremely a great race, rich, intelligent, Warrior Fighters, excellent Managers and Administrators as compared to Sindhis or Mohjairs etc etc.



So are you saying that Sindhis and Urdu speaking people are not all those things?.Pretty biased thing to say. :disagree:

Punjab does have an extremism problem and a lot of local groups who have carried out terrorist attacks. Theres no reason to deny it, go to southern Punjab and you'll know what I'm talking about.
 
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So are you saying that Sindhis and Urdu speaking people are not all those things?.Pretty biased thing to say. :disagree:

Punjab does have an extremism problem and a lot of local groups who have carried out terrorist attacks. Theres no reason to deny it, go to southern Punjab and you'll know what I'm talking about.

It was talk on general terms that is if you consider closely, Sindhis and Mohajirs are not Warrior type or has a history of great battles of gallantry as like Punjabis, Pasthuns & Kashmiris etc. Further, I would like to point out that tribalism and loyalties run deep in that society.

I would also say that Punjabis are known to be leg-pullers of each other which is a negative quality, but honestly I would class Punjabis as far ahead and better than other ethnicities and by far more tolerant and patient towards other ethnicities than anyone else...Don't you agree?

Further, It means others need to pull their game up and work for your people, develop your cities, stop infighting and hatred towards different races. It is a judgement based on pure rationality and non-bias, while at the same time the article at the top I posted, calls extremism in Punjab the root cause which I donot deny it. I do agree with issues of extremism in South-Punjab and all.

Lastly, Punjabis are not responsible for any mass murder killing, taking lives of poor people in Karachi, why that bias and hatred not shown towards who kills you in Karachi, Sindh while show your dislike against Punjabis? Why ARY tv doesnot talk about that much?

It is not a matter to take with a hurt feeling or hatred towards Punjabis but collaborate and learn from them how to work for all societies. Don't you go to England, US and UAE etc, where you adopt and learn from the local societies of each countries, do you show bias and hatred towards them, I donot think so.
 
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It was talk on general terms that is if you consider closely, Sindhis and Mohajirs are not Warrior type or has a history of great battles of gallantry as like Punjabis, Pasthuns & Kashmiris etc. Further, I would like to point out that tribalism and loyalties run deep in that society.

I would also say that Punjabis are known to be leg-pullers of each other which is a negative quality, but honestly I would class Punjabis as far ahead and better than other ethnicities and by far more tolerant and patient towards other ethnicities than anyone else...Don't you agree?

Further, It means others need to pull their game up and work for your people, develop your cities, stop infighting and hatred towards different races. It is a judgement based on pure rationality and non-bias, while at the same time the article at the top I posted, calls extremism in Punjab the root cause which I donot deny it. I do agree with issues of extremism in South-Punjab and all.

Lastly, Punjabis are not responsible for any mass murder killing, taking lives of poor people in Karachi, why that bias and hatred not shown towards who kills you in Karachi, Sindh while show your dislike against Punjabis? Why ARY tv doesnot talk about that much?

It is not a matter to take with a hurt feeling or hatred towards Punjabis but collaborate and learn from them how to work for all societies. Don't you go to England, US and UAE etc, where you adopt and learn from the local societies of each countries, do you show bias and hatred towards them, I donot think so.

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^^ What PakistanNationalist ? i was being honest here, if u have evidence then submitt contrary to it . :)
 
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I will say this though for what it's worth, Pakistanis are among the most proudly Islamic people i have met.

One Pakistani even told me straight on my face, "Malaysian's don't know anything about Islam."

I guess when a nation is formed under the name of Islam, that's natural. Doubt it's a Punjabi, Sindhi trait or whatever. Just a Pakistani trait :)
 
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^^ What PakistanNationalist ? i was being honest here, if u have evidence then submitt contrary to it . :)
I can give more examples............ Also it was a sindhi king Raja Dahir who fought the arabs...... n fell in the battle.............So dnt even start!!!
 
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I can give more examples............ Also it was a sindhi king Raja Dahir who fought the arabs...... n fell in the battle.............So dnt even start!!!

According to chachnama which was written more than 1000 years ago, Arabs reached hills of kashmir and they were defeated over there at that time kashmir and Punjab were a single country.

Arabs were also defeated by jatts of Kaikanan which is todays Kalat.

But you also have to consider the fact pakistani history have been glorified by punjabis, Worlds's oldest civilization, world's oldest literature, great mathematicians like brahmagupta who gave zero to the world and great scholars like Ahmad Sirhindi are from punjab, alexanders army and mongol empire both of these were superpower at that time when they were defeated on the plains of punjab. Ahmed Shah Abdali who started a genocide campaign against balochs were defeated by Punjabis many times.


But you are right after the turks invasion Punjab became a tribal country but still insurgency was high during delhi sultanate, During mughals Dulla Bhatti started an insurgency which lasted a decade, gakhar rebellions and sikh jatt rebellion, and Punjabi muslim rebellion at the time ahmed sirhindi.
 
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I can give more examples............ Also it was a sindhi king Raja Dahir who fought the arabs...... n fell in the battle.............So dnt even start!!!

Raja Dahir the last Hindu ruler was situated in Sindh and "parts of Punjab" in modern day Pakistan.

Anyways,

The Punjabi family village is in Jhelum - close to the site of the historical battle of Hydaspes River with Alexander the Great, the Punjabi Jatt village is known for producing Warriors for generations, there is ane oral tradition of fighting in the battle against Alexander, right up to the modern day, when sons and daughters to fight for the Pakistani Armed Forces.

To cut a long story short, the local village is thinking of erecting two statues and a monument to Alexander and the great Punjabi Porus. To pay tribute to the two great warriors of their times, one a Greek Macedonian and the other a Pakistani Punjabi

So PakNationalist, you are two-three down already by the couple of Punjabi warriorships posts. Since you said donot even start it yet and you have many examples please carry on!

Next: Am not touching the part of so many Nishan-e-Haiders gone to Punjabis and Pasthun in recent wars, major wars like the Defence of Lahore, Sialkot, Kashmir etc etc.
 
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AsianUnion has derailed the topic to the point of no return with his nonsense.

Thread closed.

Remember, the Bengalis were supposed to be the opposite of us tall, strong and fair western Pakistani's, inferior to us martial races, they sure showed us.
 
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