Pakistani Yes--But Who Am I?

By Tipu Salman Makhdoom

A Pakhtoon famously said about himself, 'I am a Pakhtoon for 5,000 years, a Muslim for 1400 years, and a Pakistani for 60 years'.

Pakhtoon

"Who are you" is a very difficult question indeed. 

Well, Geo-Politically I am a Pakistani. But what does that mean actually? Just that I am living with a politically united community in a specified place on earth. But it does not really explain who am I, and why?

Why I speak Urdu? Why am I Muslim? Why I have a pot-belly structure? Why am I inclined more in intellectually rather than physically challenging tasks? Who do I find it hard to leave my parents even after growing up? Why do I want to enable my children to reach out to world and do whatever they want?

Why I do all these things is a question which can be answered by knowing "who am I?"

Why do I speak Urdu?

I speak Urdu because I am living in Indian sub-continent (which includes modern day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and arguably Afghanistan, Tibet and Nepal). This piece of land was rich in weather and thus would get lots of crop with comparatively little time and effort. This means that a few centuries ago, it was a very wealthy region.

Naturally, this wealth resulted in two things. First, the locals were less prone to fight (because they didn't have to snatch food from their neighbours) and more inclined towards arts, culture and intellectual activities. Second, this wealth enticed a lot of brutes from the neighbouring lands of the poor.

Urdu Poet Ghalib

In the last few centuries people from Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, etc) and Asia Minor (Turkey) regions attacked and conquered my land. In those times I used to speak Sanskrit and local languages while the conquerors would speak Persian and Turkish. These conquerors did not left after looting but stayed here, along with whole of their armies. Even more people kept coming to settle here (old time migration). This meant that there were major power centres in India now which had lots of people speaking Sanskrit, Persian, Turkish and local languages. Over centuries, they amalgamate to form a new hybrid language we now call Urdu. It started to take visible shape in later Mughal period, 18th century. Since all these conquerors were Muslims, the language association titled towards Indian Muslims. When Pakistan was demanded by Indian Muslims for their Muslimhood, they adopted Urdu as a symbol of their own separate language. That's why I speak Urdu.

Why am I Muslim?

I am a Muslim not really because Umayyad Commander Muhammad Bin Qasim invaded India in 712 AD and conquered Sindh area for a while. I am also not Muslim because in those times Abbasid rebels would take refuge in Balochistan area. I am also not Muslim because in 8th century AD trading between Muslim Arabs and South Indians was on and many Arab Muslims had settled in the south Indian region. 

I am Muslim because starting 11th century AD (AD stands for "Anno Domini", which is a Latin phrase and means "In the year of the Lord", referring to the birth of Jesus Christ) Central Asian Muslims started attacking, conquering and ruling India. This era started with Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi (971 to 1030 AD).

Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi

With these Central Asian Muslim Conquerors came Central Asian Muslim saints. These conquerors and saints had thus two fold influence on the local population and a large number of them converted to Islam. Accidently, my forefathers were one of them. That's why I am Muslim. You thought I thought about it, meditated about it and then got convinced! Gotcha :)

Why I have a Pot-Belly Structure?

I have a pot-belly structure because it is the peculiar physical structure of this region. Not of the people whose forefathers came from Arab or Central Asia or Persia or Turkey, but who are living here since hundreds of thousands of years. The genes which determine the structure of the belly of these people evolved like that, and I inherited that gene from my forefathers. That's why I have a pot-belly.

Chromosome

Why am I inclined more in intellectually rather than physically challenging tasks?

I am an heir of the Indus Valley Civilization. A Civilization which is more than 5,000 years old. It started around 3,500 BC (BC stands for "Before Christ"). The times of Indus Valley Civilization can be understood by comparing it with some of the other famous world events. 

City of Mohenjo Daro

In comparison to 3500 BC, when the Indus Valley Civilization began, Prophet Abraham left Iraq and settled in Palestine around 2000 BC. Jews escaped slavery of Pharaoh under the leadership of Prophet Moses around 1300 BC. Socrates was awarded death penalty in 399 BC while Cleopatra committed suicide by getting bitten by a poisonous snake in 30 BC.

Socrates

Cleopatra

This is one of the oldest civilizations of the  world. Arguably the oldest. Among many other things, the people of Indus Valley Civilization would plan their cities with mathematical precision. I have visited Harappa (sometime the Capital of Indus Valley) a number of times and found the streets and houses more ordered than Gulbergs and Model Towns and Defence Housings of modern day Lahore. Another thing that astonishes the archeologists is that they had covered drains in their cities then, when most of the world was not living in cities even. We were far far ahead of the world. Though that is the tale of the past. Now its the other way round.

Since it was a very fertile land surrounded by Rivers Sindh and Ravi, among others, people could grow lots of food without investing much time and effort. That meant, as we noted above, they did not have to fight for food and thus did not get much inclined towards fighting skills and weapon development. On the other hand, these very intelligent and thinking people started thinking about life, after-life (their graves have things to be used by the dead in the after-life), arts and quality of life (planned cities, covered drains, etc).

These thinking people were attacked, conquered and subdued by the fighting brutes from Central Asia around 1500 BC. These Aryan conquerors from Central Asia settled here and became Brahmins.

Aryan heritage

While the subdued Indus Valley locals, the Dravidians, were made "Shudars".

Dravidian heritage

I am more prone to intellectual challenge because I am a progeny of the intelligent and artistic Indus Valley Ancestors.

Who do I find it hard to leave my parents even after growing up?

I belong to a society which is traditionally a farmer-society. This means that this society mostly consisted of farmers for at least some centuries. A time frame of centuries means that though no hereditary changes can take place in this period, a stable value-structure can be conveniently developed. Thus, in the society of farmers, where the father (sorry, I meant Parents) tills the land and children survive, and then these children inherit this land and till it together to get more yield, wise people developed the value of joint-family-system. And I was taught that value since my childhood.

And what happened when I was taught this value since childhood by the people I was dependent upon (physically, emotionally and intellectually), my parents; I got brain-washed. Certainly they did it for good reasons and it would have been very productive if the value would have been in-line with reality. But it was not. We were no more farmers and did not live in a farming society for some generations. We belong to service class now--service-society. This social structure does not go well with joint family system because unlike land (which never goes anywhere), while you are serving others, you have to go where your employer wants you to go. And when two serving brothers are required by their employers to serve them at different places, they have to do it and can't live together.

A Joint Family Portrait

I now understand this reality. But the value that I am brain-washed with is not going away. When I think of leaving my mother to boost up my career, I feel guilty. That's why I find it hard to leave my parents even after growing up; and so does everyone in my society.

Why do I want to enable my children to reach out to world and do whatever they want?

Because I live in the present, not past. The world today requires us to treat earth as our forefathers used to treat their village; go to whichever corner suits you. This requires sacrifice. A decision that might result in a lonely old-age. Yes. This sacrifice for the betterment of my children is my duty. This is the new value. A value based on the present reality. A value which is different from but is not in violation of the value of joint-family-system. 

That's why I am like this. And that is closer to "who am I"!


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