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The newspapers these days are flooded with op-ed and editorials on the issue of new provinces. However, most of these views can be called preposterous at best and suffer hugely from the colonial mapping of provinces.
Punjab’s boundaries have always been changing. During Mughal, Sikh and the British times, these changes were based mostly on administrative reasons, not cultural or linguistic. One particular columnist further goes on to say that Sarieki is just another dialect of Punjabi, a claim that even many Punjab centric linguists and scholars are reluctant to make. It must be noted that universities, both in Multan and Bahawalpur, have language departments where specialised degrees are awarded to the students of Sarieki.
I certainly agree with the view that we need not hasten the process of carving out new provinces and PPP has its own political agenda to this entire issue which has alienated most Sarieki activists and cultural workers who have long been demanding a separate province. It is also correct that unless the people of each region are empowered at local level, the new provinces will only end up having their own feudals taking over, with more chief ministers and governors in the offing. This suits all existing political parties to create more ministries, be it at the provincial or federal level, to get a mention in the Guinness Book of World Record for the largest “kitchen cabinet” for a poor country that can ill afford it. But that does not mean that we continue to hold poor regions hostage to centrist civil and military bureaucracy and politicians which we have already suffered far too long.
Despite the historic National Finance Commission (NFC) award, the provinces have developed differences because of unjust distribution of resources from the federation. As a result, today we see all provinces at each others throats, with Pakistan as a state completely losing control of at least two of its provinces.
As Senator Raza Rabbani has rightly pointed out we should have more provinces but not just for the sake of short term political gains. We should think it through and exhaustively debate taking the wishes of the people of Sarieki speaking regions into account.
For over six decades, the state and its centrist establishment has denied the people of Punjab, be they Punjabi, Sarieki, Pothohari or Hindko, their basic human right of primary education in their mother tongues. The Pakistani establishment tried to suppress the local culture to create an imaginary unity through Urdu as language and Islam as culture in Pakistan while it continued to use English as its official lingua franca.
The Pakistani establishment’s imaginary ‘one nation’ theory has deteriorated into a fascist pan-Islamic ideology in the hands of fundamentalists just because we refuse the people their right to their identity. If I am not a Pashtun, a Sarieki or a Balochi and I am only a Pakistani, then of course the mullahs will insist that I am only a Muslim. Where will the buck stop?
The Pakistani establishment failed to respect these identities and thus create respect amongst the different people for each other’s culture. It might be already too late but insisting on remaining blind to this seems a little pathological.
Imposed unities always shatter and the only way people live together is by respecting each other’s diversity and celebrating differences. Have we not learnt anything from what we did to our Bengali brothers?
Why imposed unities always shatter > > The newspapers these days are flooded with op-ed and editorials on the issue > of new provinces. However, most of these views can be called preposterous at > best and suffer hugely from the colonial mapping of provinces. > > Punjab’s boundaries have always been changing. During Mughal, Sikh and the > British times, these changes were based mostly on administrative reasons, > not cultural or linguistic. One particular columnist further goes on to say that Sarikei is just > another dialect of Punjabi, a claim that even many Punjab centric linguists > and scholars are reluctant to make. It must be noted that universities, both > in Multan and Bahawalpur, have language departments where specialised > degrees are awarded to the students of Sarikei. > > I certainly agree with the view that we need not hasten the process of > carving out new provinces and PPP has its own political agenda to this > entire issue which has alienated most Sarikei activists and cultural workers > who have long been demanding a separate province. It is also correct that > unless the people of each region are empowered at local level, the new > provinces will only end up having their own feudals taking over, with more > chief ministers and governors in the offing. This suits all existing > political parties to create more ministries, be it at the provincial or > federal level, to get a mention in the Guinness Book of World Record for the > largest “kitchen cabinet” for a poor country that can ill afford it. But > that does not mean that we continue to hold poor regions hostage to a > centrist civil and military bureaucracy and politicians which we have > already suffered far too long. > > Despite the historic National Finance Commission (NFC) award, the provinces > have developed differences because of unjust distribution of resources from > the federation. As a result, today we see all provinces at each others > throats, with Pakistan as a state completely losing control of at least two > of its provinces. > > As Senator Raza Rabbani has rightly pointed out we should have more > provinces but not just for the sake of short term political gains. We should > think it through and exhaustively debate taking the wishes of the people of > Sarikei speaking regions into account. > > For over six decades, the state and its centrist establishment has denied > the people of Punjab, be they Punjabi, Sarikei, Pothohari or Hindko, their > basic human right of primary education in their mother tongues. The > Pakistani establishment tried to suppress the local culture to create an > imaginary unity through Urdu as language and Islam as culture in Pakistan > while it continued to use English as its official lingua franca. > > The Pakistani establishment’s imaginary ‘one nation’ theory has deteriorated > into a fascist pan-Islamic ideology in the hands of fundamentalists just > because we refuse the people their right to their identity. If I am not a > Pashtun, a Sarikei or a Balochi and I am only a Pakistani, then off course > the mullahs will insist that I am only a Muslim. Where will the buck stop? > The Pakistani establishment failed to respect these identities and thus > create respect amongst the different people for each other’s culture. It > might be already too late but insisting on remaining blind to this seems a > little pathological. > > Imposed unities always shatter and the only way people live together is by > respecting each other’s diversity and celebrating differences. Have we not > learnt anything from what we did to our Bengali brothers?
