The problem of Pakistani identity and writers: summary

The problem of Pakistani identity and writers: summary

As the title itself suggests that this essay is all about Pakistani identity according to writers. This essay was written in 1996, as Intizar Hussain himself mentioned in first paragraph that Pakistan is going to complete its fifty years in coming year but still there is the problem of identity.

He explained the views of different writers and also gave answers to some basic questions that are, what is that we claim to be our separate culture? Are we a new nation born on 14 august 1947 or an old one?

He starts his writing by calling his feelings as feelings of jealously because Pakistan and India both born at same day than why Pakistani writers are still facing the problem of identity?

After the partition, while the writers on both side were writing about the miseries of people. A few writers in Pakistan were astonished when they found the same attitude of writing on the other hand. Dr Taseer, Muhammad Hassan Askari and Mumtaz Shrin were those first writers who zealously argued that the Pakistani literature should be distinct from literature of India and their reaction led to the theory of Pakistani Adab.

While on the other hand some writers argued that the domain of literature is indivisible. Ahmad Riaz was one of those writes; he wrote “Kaun Karsakta hai Taqseem Adab ki Jagir”

 This sharp reaction gave birth to a controversy around the question that how we will define Pakistani literature as a distinct one. On 1968, while Faiz was giving lecture on the problems of culture in Azad Kashmir argued that are we a new nation born on 19 AUG 1947 or an old one? If we are an old one than should we trace our history from the day when Muhammad bin Qasim entered this land or from the times of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. And does our culture originate from Islam or from our land.

Hassan Askari once said “if we forget the aspect of oldness of Pakistan, we will not be able to keep East Pakistan and West Pakistan within one state for long”. He explained in term of nation evolved during the process of centuries.

There are basically three extremes of culture. At first, culture is something that is rooted in the land. On the other hand were those who laid their stress on the concept of national identity that anything regional appeared to them to be negating what is national from their point of view. Third group stand for pure Islamic culture.

While Faiz is seeking a middle position. According to him there is one more version of Pakistani culture drawing its substance from Muslim history in the sub continent. Jameel Jalbi calls its indo-Muslim culture.

According to proof Gilani’s analysis in his book “Qaum ki Tashkeel aur Urdu Zuban”, he argued that during the centuries of Muslims rules in sub continent this indo Islamic culture is emerged. This is the culture which forces Muslims to demand for a separate land. But Salim Ahmed wondered that now when we are recognized as a separate nation, we are told that we are not a nation and we have no common culture. He agrees with proof Gilani’s analysis.

Intizar Hussain is dare asking a question that why this "identity" becomes controversial immediately after the birth of Pakistan. Quaid e Azam, while living in a common culture worked for a separate identity but Faiz has pointed out that nobody cared to raise a question about this common culture. We indefinitely inter locked in hate-love relation with Hindus. We fought many battles and we lived together for centuries.

Such was our identity but with the sudden elimination of Indian context, we lost our cultural balance and now our identity is blurred. And the nation called Indian Muslims who created this homeland itself underwent the process of partition and thus the nation secure in Pakistan develop the feeling of newly born nation.

Now with the elimination of Hindus we started discovering our roots in Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa and Texila. Prof Khakhar Hussain opined that we have dug out of our soil, backs the historical continuity. That is necessary for cultural tradition.

While Nadeem Qasmi, on his visit to Mohenjo-Daro finds the bullock creeping on the dusty roads, remaining him of what he had just seen in museum. But Faiz argues if we stars our history from Mohenjo-Daro than we will be compelled to succeeding periods of history starting from Brahman culture, the Buddhist culture and the Greek periods and continually we will have to accommodate with Ashok, Chandar gupt, Alexander the great, raja Raisloo among our heroes.

This condition compelled Faiz to say that “our religion is the basis of our culture”.

After the separation of East Pakistan our poets did not care about the cultural links that took birth in the Muslims periods throughout India. He said that frontiers of cultures are not synonymous with the culture of land. And once he argued that Dehli, Agra, Mir and Galib are part of our cultural heritage. Samarqand, Bukhara, hafiz, Saadi and Roomi are also part of our culture.

But poets took no longer time to change his statement and said that we might have link with these places and personalities but they are not our property. Mohenjo-Daro is our property and Sehwan Shrif, Lahore, Multan and Khybar also. Dr Wazir Agha argues that only the name of Samarqand and Bukhara motioned here but the real intention is to strike out red fort and Taj Mehal from the cultural heritage of Pakistan.

It is the cultural anarchy we are living in. we consider Faiz as most sensible person between us. He says there is different fragmentation of culture around us and we have to come up with our identity.

Let me here at the end quote from Eliot, once when he was discussing the culture in European context said "then you must start pain-fully again, and you cannot put on a new culture readymade. You must wade for the grass to grow to feed the sheep to give the wool out of which your new coat will be made. You must pass through many centuries of barbarism”.

So the prescription made by Faiz is fine, we have to wait for grass to grow.

Thank you

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