By Humaira Rahman

By chance I saw Irfan Husain’s latest offering in daily dawn and was amazed at Irfan’s lack of understanding of the young population that inhabits the Pakistani states current territorial boundaries (in spite of being a resident of Sindh for 60+ yrs?):

Irfan Husain writes, and I quote:

In order to justify the partition of the subcontinent, rulers have resorted to bewildering mental contortions. Many have tried to move our roots to the Middle East from our true origins in South Asia. This confusion is reflected in school textbooks and the media. Thus, we have young people unsure of their past, and unable or unwilling to claim their rich cultural patrimony.

Please note that perhaps what Irfan says is true of the youth that hails from the sliver of the population that you come from/represent: immigrants from north India (7% of total population of Pakistan, max??)

However I can say with certitude that no Sindhi or Baloch young or old person (the two nations within which my own roots lie and that I have intimate knowledge of) is at all confused about their past, origin or history.

We, the Sindhi and Baloch indigenous nations that live within the state of Pakistan are, on the contrary, extremely rooted —— in spite of all the attempts by civil -military bureaucracy to “cleanse” us through education, militarization, extra judicial practices and other policies where we were/are deprived of opportunities to speak and study in our own languages or practice our culture in a way that free nations practice their cultures.

Please note that we are proud of our ancient history, civilization and cultural heritage and as well our robust abilities to carry on creating and reproducing our language, literature, music, journalism, dance and as well practice of our civilized culture under the direst conditions (mostly imposed by Urdu hegemony practioners)

Please note that we are neither unsure of our past nor unable/unwilling to claim our rich cultural matrimony/patrimony;

It is true that the vast military civilian bureaucracy (of which you remained an erstwhile part for decades) have attempted to “cleanse” us over the decades, but they have failed.