Restoring Punjabi identity
By Ishtiaq Ahmed
The News, October 06, 2007
The BBC announced on October 1 that a truck carrying goods from East Punjab crossed the Wagah-Attari border between India and Pakistan and entered West Punjab for the first time in 60 years. This was once an ancient trade route, dating back to 600 years. It linked India to Afghanistan and Central Asia, but when partition took place that route was closed. Consequently, for a long time there was no trade between the two Punjabs or when the trade was agreed a few years ago trucks would unload their goods at the border on both sides and then labourers would carry them to the other side. Mind you, the trade consisted of vegetables going from East Punjab to West Punjab and fruits coming from West Punjab to the other side.
Commonsense would tell us that vegetables and fruits quickly perish and therefore they need quick and prompt transportation to the market. Therefore the strange practice of unloading trucks at the border rather than letting them unload their products at the markets was an absurdity and nothing more. I am not sure which side deserved to be blamed more for such foolish behaviour, but we can hope that good business sense will prevail now and trade will expand quickly. Analysts believe that trade between the two countries could reach $6 billion a year if both sides ease restrictions. In my recent series of articles on partition of the Punjab, I let the facts speak for themselves, because I believe that truth and truth alone should be the basis of solid and lasting human relations. Punjabis deserve to know what happened in the past so that they can make rational and hopefully-enlightened decisions on the present and the future.
It is interesting to note that western Europe, which is today the most-advanced region of the world in terms of socio-economic and political cooperation, was not very long ago just the opposite. The bloodiest conflicts of history -- the first and second world wars -- originated in western Europe as nationalist ideologies and ambitions of the different nations clashed with one another. Thirty-five million human beings died in the First World War and 75 million (of which 25 million died in the war begun in Asia by Japan) in the Second World War. If the Europeans can forget and forgive the excesses committed in those two wars, there is absolutely no reason why we can't do the same. What is needed is political will. In addition is needed a futuristic vision of regional peace and progress that transcends narrowly-defined national interests, which if you analyse closely are mainly the interests of ruling elites.
I am convinced that normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan is inevitable though there are important decisions to be made by both sides to solve the Kashmir issue in a manner that there are only winners and no losers. This can be possible only if all parties involved realise that there is no military solution to that problem. For the Punjabis in particular a new vision is needed to heal the wounds of 1947. We have to insist that in our schools and colleges the message of peace and harmony bequeathed to us by our elders is taught in a fair and dispassionate manner. I can tell you that Punjabi wisdom about peace, mutual respect and harmony is very rich and all we have to do is to own it without prejudice of religion and sect. Then we have the message of love of Guru Nanak and Sufi saints to share.
In fact simply one course in partition literature containing the best works of Krishan Chander, Saadat Hasan Manto, Rajinder Singh Bedi, Balwant Singh, Ashfaq Ahmed, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi and other great fiction writers can suffice to shatter all the ugly walls of prejudice created by politics. Hindu Punjabis were at the forefront in charitable causes. Before partition all charitable hospitals in the Punjab were gifts of Hindu philanthropists. In Lahore alone we have the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Gulab Devi Hospital, Janki Devi Hospital, and the lesser known Dr Khera Hospital in Gowalmandi.
We should not forget the tiniest Punjabi community of all: the Christians. I wonder if we ever really take into account how important and useful have been the contributions of Christian missionaries in establishing hospitals, schools and colleges in the Punjab. We can always damn Hinduism for its caste system, which indeed was and is an evil, just as non-Muslims allege that Muslims draw arbitrary lines between believers and non-believers. The Sikh is stereotyped as a simpleton but also a brute when seeking revenge. But the truth is that good and decent human beings constitute the majority of all communities and it is in them that we should place our trust.
The Punjab is truly pluralist and it must remain that way even if we are now divided between two nations. Our common bond is Punjabi culture and language, but it has not been properly recognised and developed. Unfortunately Punjabiyat was a victim of communalism. In the early 20th century communal revivals resulted in the Punjabi language being communalised too. Thus Punjabi Muslims returned Urdu as their mother tongue in the censuses, Hindus Hindi and only the valiant Sikhs acknowledged Punjabi as their mother-tongue. Now, all lovers of the Punjab and Punjabi have to make amends for that communal type of thinking from the past. Anyone who loves the Punjab and owns the Punjabi language as her mother tongue should be considered a Punjabi. My approach is inclusive: it does not refer to ethnicity, religion or sect.
The Punjabis of today are truly a global community. They constitute altogether between 100 and 120 million people. The Punjabi diaspora comprises some 10 million Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs settled in Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and in many other parts of the world. There are Punjabi poets, fiction writers, journalists, filmmakers, songwriters and music directors all over the world and indeed in the subcontinent. Punjabis have many websites devoted to Punjabi culture. The general trend is to write in Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi alongside English.
Personally I think a great leap forward can be made if Punjabi literature was available in the Roman or Latin script. For instant communication there is no better medium than the Latin script. It is easy to learn and is familiar to Punjabis all over the world. I believe the restoration of the Punjabi identity can be speeded up if we can start writing in the Latin script.
The author is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore on leave from the University of Stockholm, Sweden. Email: isasia@ nus.edu.sg
