Since XTM’s latest post discusses Pakistani culture, I am excerpting from one of my articles “Some Thoughts on Pakistani Culture”. You can read the complete essay on my Substack.
One of the dominant explanations for the decline of Hindustani music in Pakistan is that these musical genres were not compatible with Pakistan’s national identity. The 1947 Partition of British India was largely justified by the “Two Nation Theory”–the idea that the Muslims of British India were a different “nation” from the Hindus and were therefore entitled to their own state. It is argued that while the proponents of this view succeeded in achieving a sovereign Pakistan, they struggled to define a new cultural identity not shared with India. Since it was a part of the syncretic Indo-Islamic culture, classical music became entangled in this struggle to separate Pakistan’s culture from India’s.
In actual fact, there was no concerted action on the part of the state to define a national identity. Rather, many opinions were in circulation in which the xenophobic ones were not met with sufficient resistance. It is ironic that the one committee founded in 1968 to frame a national policy on art and culture, under the leadership of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, came to a conclusion contradicting the narrow-minded national identity viewpoint. In the report, Faiz responded to the contention that Muslim or Islamic ideologies were the rightful frame for defining Pakistani culture. He noted that this position “ignores the reality of the non-ideological components of culture, e.g. language, dress, cuisine, architecture, arts and crafts, non-religious customs and social observances, etc. These are mundane products of historical origin and geographical environment and cannot be dubbed Islamic or un-Islamic”. He noted that what differentiates one Islamic state from another is their nationhood or culture. Faiz concluded quite categorically that “There is little justification, therefore, for any ambivalent or apologetic attitude either towards Pakistan (sic) nationhood or towards Pakistani culture” (Salim and Ishfaq 2013: 50).
When I say that Pakistan is a South Asian country and that our culture is South Asian, I am referring to what Faiz called the “non-ideological” components of culture (language, food, dress, art etc).
I disagree with XTM that Pakistan should have opted to claim a Persianiate identity. I think most Pakistanis would have found Persian even more foreign than they find Urdu. I myself attempted to learn Persian at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC. I took the course for two semesters and while I did fine, it wasn’t a language that I particularly related to.
Where I differ from some of the “Saffroniate” commenters on BP is that I don’t think that the fact that Pakistan shares a lot of cultural elements with North India necessarily de-legitimizes the Pakistani nation-state. It is just a fact that historically what is now Pakistan has been ruled from Delhi-based empires.
In many ways we are citizens of our culture more than the nation-states to which we belong. And the “stickiest” aspect of culture is language. I can pretend to be of another religion very easily, or even have genuine vacillation, but I will never have a convincing french accent and diction no matter how hard i try at this point in my life. And culture circumscribes our imagination more than we’d like to admit. The shared culture of the hindi-urdu sphere is quite resilient, and will survive even greater polarization than we see now. Pakistanis are not even close to abandoning their Indic languages, and Indians who don’t have personal experience with them vastly exaggerate the idea that Pakistanis “think they are Arabs/Turks” ect.
To your other point, agreed, why do similar cultures necessitate organizing under a single polity? Indians are more extreme in this regard, but Pakistan subscribes to this idea as well, its the bias towards a larger “optimal” state size. To so extent, political fragmentation can be a type of resilience
Great comment.
Definitely agree that the “shared culture of the Hindi-Urdu sphere is quite resilient.” I have no issues with Urdu being an “Indian” language– though not in the sense of the nation-state.
XTM is absolutely right that Urdu has an “Indic” grammar. When I tried to learn Farsi, I found the grammar the most difficult. The vocabulary was quite similar (though some words mean something different in Urdu than in Farsi).
Unfortunately, there are a lot of Pakistanis who do think that they are Arabs or Turks–or at least this is what they claim in public. Recall how popular “Ertrugrul” was in Pakistan. During Imran Khan’s prime ministership, “Ertrugrul” was even dubbed in Urdu and shown on PTV. It’s only natural that since our history with India is so problematic, many Pakistanis want to find an alternate identity for themselves.
I actually don’t really disagree with BB when he says Pakistanis are “Muslim Indians”. The only problem with this statement is that he says this to de-legitimize Pakistan’s national identity and to claim all the good things in our culture for India.
My position is that Pakistanis are ethnically indistinguishable from North Indians. Again, more than half the population is Punjabi. But we have formed a different national identity– based on the TNT and also on 80 years of history as an independent nation-state.
I should also note that Pakistani Pashtuns are ethnically indistinguishable from Afghan Pashtuns. So perhaps Pakistan should be thought of as a transitional zone where “India” ends and Central Asia begins.
The Hindu Kush (Greater Iranian Plateau) meets the Great Indian Plains (Punjab & Sindh).
Of course Pakistan has been very transitional; that’s why Punjabi identity is the weakest regional identity of the Subahs.
For instance South Punjab is Seraikistan and it was only really British irrigation that brought in a lot of East Punjabis into the West Punjab.
Also a lot of West Punjab dialects are very old and diverse and remarkably different. Punjabi can be also modelled as Hindi type language intruding into a Lahnda (West Punjabi one).
//Unfortunately, there are a lot of Pakistanis who do think that they are Arabs or Turks–or at least this is what they claim in public. //
Is this for real? I always thought this was a social media exaggeration.
Iran has a ton..
also South Punjab – Sindh have very deep and profound Arab-Sufi-Muslim cultural strains. Sindh has been majority Muslim since at least the early modern and been under continuous Muslim rule since 711 AD!
It is more that Lahore-North Punjab is a very different cultural strain; it can be seen as an extension of Delhi in a way
I dont understand? Can Syed only be used in context of arabization and not an indicator of islamization, like many biblical or greek christian names( Theodore, christopher, sophia,etc) are an indicator of christianization.
My maternal grandmother told me that her father was from an Arab lineage. His last name was Qureshi. For what it’s worth, I don’t think this was true. But she was proud of it.
My uncle by marriage (Dad’s sister’s husband) told me that his ancestors were Turks. He’s Kashmiri.
So yes, there are people who claim this.
Several points are wrong here:
I have never actually met a Pakistani who thinks they are Arab or Turk ethnically. Claiming lineage is not ethnicity, not even the Syeds identify with Arabs although they will try to flex their Syed status occassionally. Many Syeds in the family, never heard anyone claim they were ethnically Arab.
Ergutral did not make people in Pakistan think they were Turks, what they identified with was the Islamic history and mannerisms being portrayed. A pasthun guy told me that it portrayed ‘our history’ and while I completely understdood the ‘our’ part because he was using it in an Islamic context (because he is a proud Pasthun, not Arab or Turk), but I did correct him that it was mostly fiction.
The claim that Pakistanis are ethnically indistinguishable from North Indians is also wrong. This just refuses to acknowledge the vast diversity of languages, cultures, clothing and mannerisms that are found in Pakistan and North India. The difference between a Pakistani Muhajir from UP and Sindhi is night and day and you will have to live it to understand it. The difference between even Saraiki and Punjabi from Majha belt is night and day. When you live in a cosmopolitan city like Karachi and you see these different groups up close, you will realize there are many differences as their are commonailities and that stereotypes are not lies.
Educated people from different groups can paper over these differences because of their common Urdu/English education but the differences are stark on the rural level.
Pakistani Pasthuns are also very distinguishable from Afghan Pasthuns. This is also apparent when you peek past the surface. The Pashtuns are divided in North South (their dressing & accent is different). KP is more fertile by several magnitudes than any part of Afghanistan, which shows in the cuture. Pakistan has more settled areas and Pasthuns here are less tribal. The FATA Pasthuns share similarly with Afghans more than they do with Pasthuns in areas like Swat, Peshawar, Nowshera etc. The Pasthuns and Baloch unity is just a myth, most feuds in Balochistan are between Pasthuns and Balochs over land and there is no unity between these so called “Iranic” groups because the entire premise of Indic/Iranic is wrong.
There is no dividing line between any cultures, this is just Indian propganda to claim Pakistani lands. There is no ”Indic” and ”Iranic” these are just language groupings. Take a look at Gujjars in KP, or Punjabi tribes on the Potohar, these guys share more culture with Pasthuns than with most Punjabis.
So to deny the diversity that exists within Pakistan and lump everyone together with North India (which I am sure is 3x more diverse) is just incorrect.
this is a very good comment.
I’m not denying the diversity that exists in Pakistan.
But it is a fact that about 60% of the population (more or less) is Punjabi and thus ethnically no different than our kin across the Radcliffe Line.
Had it not been for contingent political decisions made in 1947, there would be no Pakistan and we would all be part of India.
That’s my position.
60% figure is overrated. Saraikis and Potoharis are different groups than Central Punjabis. The way indentity works however is that if you live in a province demaracted by the government, you naturally start to identify with it because everyone else outside of that province marks you out like that. But the fact is that these groups are different completely and their culture is too.
yes exact Punjab really is the Majha. Potohar and Saraikis are offshoots of very ancient identities.
Ranjit Singh, British canals and the Mughals (as well as paradoxically the Pakistani state) has done more to create a Punjabi identity.
I don’t think you should be trying to minimize Punjabi identity.
Good luck splitting our province. This is absolutely untenable. The Punjab Assembly will never allow Punjab to be divided.
This having a feet in both boats is not going to work. Slowly the bigger and powerful ‘culture ‘will dominate. This is the fear of Pakistani elite.
Russia and it’s USSR components were fully under Indian films, songs etc in a genuine manner. In the decade after the fall of Soviet Union, India was sluggish to keep that momentum going and it’s all American now.
Similarly Europe fights to protect it’s culture from American onslaught.
On Indian scene, the weddings in south India under the influence of Bollywood is all now northindian, mehendi,sangeet and all. Salwar kameez has become all of India’s national dress.
Pakistan should choose one line either way and be happy.
Ukraine and Russia have the Same culture and still can fight!!!
Is it an addition or replacement; have South Indians replaced the customs?
At this point addition, who knows what happens in future
On Pakistan, they can have the so called Indian culture, but the Islamic nature of the rulers will not allow a full Monty.
So it is better that they become mideastern.
Interestingly, one can observe many orthodox Muslim men wear the Arab full skirt, with the head gear. Women anyway wear Islamic dress.
Also, china and Taiwan can have the same culture and yet fight, do culture is not a big thing.
“Women anyway wear Islamic dress”– I’m sorry. What is “Islamic dress”?
Most Pakistani women wear shalwar kameez and dupatta. There is nothing particularly “Islamic” about it.
Most Pakistani men wear shalwar kameez. Again, that’s a South Asian dress not an “Islamic” one.
If you think that most Pakistani women are going around in full burqa, you have fallen prey to Indian stereotypes. Just watch a Pakistani drama and see what people are wearing.
Your point about China and Taiwan is well taken. But I would say that that is a territorial dispute. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory.
Similarly India and Pakistan have a territorial dispute over Kashmir. The situation in our case is exacerbated by the fact that the two countries have very different religious demographics.
Hindus both men and women used to wear wrap arounds, either Saree or dhoti before Islamic invasion.
Shalwar and kameez came with Muslims.
This is not a good argument.
Clothing should not be associated with religion. My paternal grandmother used to wear saris all her life. She was from Agra and that was what women wore there.
Shalwar kameez is a Punjabi dress.
Anyway, it doesn’t really make sense to call it “Islamic dress”. I thought you were referring to burqa/abaya.
Not really, it is an amalgamation to pre existing rituals.
Yes Hinduism can mix, match and add. It’s a genius quality tbh
“Salwar kameez has become all of India’s national dress.”
“the bigger and powerful ‘culture ‘will dominate.”
Looks like Indians getting dominated by Pakistani culture here.
Dhotis are being discarded in favor or Shalwar Kameez is just a sign.
Very much.
Only Two things are missing.
1. Our politicians are still not wearing 3 piece suits.
2. Cricket captains are not saying boys played well.
Your politicians may not wear suits but most of you wearing pants and shirts which shows a complete British cultural victory, or rather I would say American. And if Shalwar Qameez is getting popular it appears Pakistan is also calling dibs.
People in India didnt dress like this 100 years ago.
The Indian Subcontinent has been the most resistant in both culinary and costumary sense.
It’s pretty incredible while everyone else in the world has Westernised.
It is foolish to divide the Indian Subcontinent into itself rather than build a composite culture, rooted in Dharma.
“rooted in Dharma” is where the problem lies from the Pakistani perspective.
Our culture is rooted in Islam. That’s arguably the entire point of Pakistan.
We are a South Asian Muslim country.
There is no dharma in Afghanistan and it is even less westernized than Pakistan or India. It’s simply the fact that the entire region is extremely religious and this is why it has resisted westernization. Islam refuses to submit to westernization and is probably the only societies that continue to actively resist westernized monoculture. And while Hinduism is also pretty conservative, I think it is now getting westernized rapidly.
Food is one thing that west was pretty inferior at and this is why it has not changed even in other places where everything else is now completely westernized.
“Islam refuses to submit to westernization”–
Isn’t Turkey a fairly westernized country?
I’ve only been to Istanbul twice for a few days as a tourist.
But if you watch Turkish dramas, you find men and women wearing Western clothing, women with their heads uncovered and alcohol being consumed.
I remember during the popularity of “Ertrugrul”, some Pakistanis on Twitter trolled the actress playing the female lead because she didn’t cover her head. She really let them have it.
In large parts of Pakistan a woman who doesn’t wear a duppatta is essentially considered a ‘public woman’.
To be fair, many Pakistani men also wear pants and shirts.
Women continue to wear shalwar kameez. Though of course you will see girls at colleges like LUMS wearing Western clothing.
[…] S Qureishi on Some Thoughts on Pakistani Culture […]
“Three Pakistani Films Win Honorable Mentions At Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles”
https://images.dawn.com/news/1195219/three-pakistani-films-win-honourable-mentions-at-indian-film-festival-of-los-angeles
Pakistani filmmaking is becoming like Iranian filmmaking. very good at indie films.
Pakistani and Iranians film industries are like Telugu and other Indian language film industries.
Bollywood is like Hollywood, probably better tbh.