Do not hate me for who I am! —Shahid Ilyas
We are taking too long to understand that Pakistan does not mean Punjab only. It consists of several nationalities, which have very distinct and old languages, cultures and histories. All of them have as much a share in the state of Pakistan as any other
Going by the rhetoric that one comes across from a host of media, including e-mails, the internet, TV shows, blogs and personal conversations, it is very disturbing to see the level of hatred which the youth in Punjab (is it only the youth?) — exceptions notwithstanding — harbour against personalities like President Zardari, President Karzai, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Mahmud Khan Achakzai. On the other hand, a soft corner in their attitudes is discernible for Qazi Hussein Ahmad, Nawaz Sharif, Zaid Hamid, Hamid Gul and Pervez Musharraf — people who subscribe to, some explicitly, others implicitly, the narrative which states that the international forces in Afghanistan are ‘occupying’ forces (do we have any business with who occupies what?), the Taliban are fighting to ‘free’ their country from a foreign occupation while India is an irreconcilable enemy, and so on and so forth. Can a country like Pakistan see stability with the configuration of love and hate on the above patterns?
To begin with, let’s ask what can be the possible reasons for the widespread hostility towards the person of President Zardari? Is it the NRO? But Zardari is not the only person to benefit from it or to allegedly be corrupt. The problem seems much deeper. It has partly to do with the anti-Zardari propaganda on pro-establishment news media. But it has also to do with where he comes from and what he stands for. The continuous and decades-long domination of political power in Pakistan by an overwhelmingly Punjab-based establishment makes it so difficult for them to accept the presence of a non-Punjabi and non-obliging personage in the presidency of the Islamic republic. It is simply too much for them to see the president talk about such ‘irritating’ issues as the rights for the Baloch and Pashtuns, and civilian supremacy over the armed forces. Indeed they have enjoyed so much power and for so long, that they started to take the same for granted.
We are taking too long to understand that Pakistan does not mean Punjab only. It consists of several nationalities, which have very distinct and old languages, cultures and histories. All of them have as much a share in the state of Pakistan as any other. All of them have to be given a chance to reach to the highest slots including the presidency and the prime minister house. Their languages and cultures are as important as any other, and the same has to be granted as much importance — on official level — as the languages of Punjab and Muhajirs. Asif Ali Zardari’s presence in the presidency is not the result of a favour from anyone. He is the president of the Islamic republic because he is duly elected and he represents a group of people, which has equal ownership of the country.
Read more >>- Daily Times
Link – http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20106\30\story_30-6-2010_pg3_4
Indus Asia Online Journal (Click here to go to home page)
“We are taking too long to understand that Pakistan does not mean Punjab only…”
we do not believe that Pakistan means Punjab only …
“Their languages and cultures are as important as any other, and the same has to be granted as much importance — on official level — as the languages of Punjab and Muhajirs.”
The languages of Punjab are facing possible extinction in the next century.Punjabi is not an official language,is not the medium of instruction in schools and it is finishing in the middle class and is being successfully replaced by Urdu in all spheres.It is given little importance.Other languages may survive due to massive conservation efforts but Punjabi will not.Sindhi is an official language and it,along with urdu,is one of the only two languages in which identity documents are published.Its future is secure.At the same time Punjabi is being diluted with Urdu words and is finishing.GO THERE AND SEE FOR YOURSELF!
“He is the president of the Islamic republic because he is duly elected and he represents a group of people, which has equal ownership of the country”
HE REPRESENT ALL OF PAKISTAN ..?!
“pro-establishment news media.”
The media is the opposite of pro-establishment.it is highly against the establishment ?
“…an overwhelmingly Punjab-based establishment makes it so difficult for them to accept the presence of a non-Punjabi and non-obliging personage in the presidency of the Islamic republic. It is simply too much for them to see the president talk about such ‘irritating’ issues as the rights for the Baloch and Pashtuns, and civilian supremacy over the armed forces. ”
Excuse me but I have already cleared why Zardari is hated. Secondly,I have never heard anyone mention the rights issue to be ‘irritating’.
Without reference you have made this statement,which may very well be a lie like much of the rest of your post for all we know!
Listen;the elite that runs the country does not care whether one is Punjabi, Kahmiri, Sindhi, Baloch etc….they only look at everyone as people they can leech from and eliminate those that oppose them…this is an ECONOMIC PROBLEM NOT AN ETHNIC ONE…but you propagandists try to portray otherwise!
“We are taking too long to understand that Pakistan does not mean Punjab only…”
Correct,but
“It consists of several nationalities, which have very distinct and old languages, cultures and histories”
Not very distinct and they pretty much have the same culture. .. try t make us believe that Culture only consists of language and clothes.That is far from it.Culture laws and belief system… Sindhis are more similar in their culture to the far away Pushtuns than the nearer Hindu Sindhis in the matter of everyday living and most aspects of culture.by the way,these are not nationalities but LINGUISTIC GROUPS.Also,Punjab does not only contain Punjabis,which you are assuming.
“Going by the rhetoric that one comes across from a host of media, including e-mails, the internet, TV shows, blogs and personal conversations, it is very disturbing to see the level of hatred which the youth in Punjab (is it only the youth?) — exceptions notwithstanding — harbour against personalities like President Zardari, President Karzai, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and Mahmud Khan Achakzai.”
maybe its because they were terrible leaders.I’ve been surfing online Pakistani forums for years and not ONCE have I heard anyone talk against them because they were Sindhi or pathan.Karzai is an American puppet and the last two are ethnic nationalists.ethnic nationalism is a concept abhorrent to Islam.
DID THEY ACTUALLY STATE THEY HATED THESE INDIVIDUALS DUE TO THEIR ETHNICITY OR ARE YOU JUST ASSUMING?!