Are Pakistanis
Less Prejudiced than Indians?
By Dr Muqtedar Khan
Director of International Studies
Chair, Political Science Department, Adrian College
Non-Resident Fellow, Brookings Institution
I was disappointed to read that when Pakistan
beat India in a cricket match last week in Bangalore
they were rewarded with silence by thousands of
cricket fans in the stadium. In contrast, when
India beat Pakistan in Karachi the crowds there
roared with approval for the Indian team’s
excellent performance. One recurrent theme of
India ‘s tour to Pakistan was the great
welcome they received, the hospitality of the
locals, and the general love and adulation that
the Indian team received in Pakistan across the
board. The silence in Bangalore in contrast seemed
shameful.
India is a democracy and given its long history
of religious pluralism it is a surprise that when
it comes to respecting the other for its excellence
India, at least Bangalore, is found less than
equal to Pakistan. I do not wish to make too much
out of this singular event, the poor Bangaloreans
were already stupefied by the declining batting
prowess of the Indian captain Ganguly [who aggregated
48 in his last five innings], but I think that
the silence in Bangalore is indicative of how
nationalism undermines good nature, in this case
sportsmanship.
An Indian visitor to Pakistan last year wrote
[Business Line April 05, 2004]:
“It was an overwhelming experience at Karachi
‘s National Stadium where the Pakistanis
were throwing chocolates at the Indian fans cheering
their team. Quite a few were carrying the flags
of both countries imaginatively stitched together.
The guy on the street selling bhuttas refused
to accept money from us and so did some restaurant
owners saying that we were their guests!”
She was amazed by people on the streets wanting
to shake the hands of Indian visitors and “asking
us to come home for dinner. Everybody we met had
some relative staying in India. Star Plus is Karachi’s
most favorite channel. Shops gave us 40 to 50
per cent discount and again it was the India factor.
Taxis, autos, army guys... the list is endless...
everywhere we got loads of courtesy and respect;
more than we would get in our own country. It
is really sad that we consider ourselves `secular’
and yet have such a negative perception of Pakistan.”
An article in The Telegraph [March 06, 2005] reported:
Almost each of the 8,000 Indians who went to Pakistan
for the 2004 cricket series had a story to tell
- of a shop-keeper who wouldn’t take money,
a taxi-driver who refused the fare and the perfect
stranger who called them home for dinner.
The stories about Pakistani hospitality to the
Indian cricket team and the thousands of Indian
fans proliferated in the media last year. I hardly
see any such reports this time. I hope many Pakistani
tourists too will go back with similar appreciation
of Indian hospitality.
Even as the series began Indian media was observing
that Pakistanis would not be received with the
same sentiments as Indians were in Pakistan. Sen
and Mahapatra write in The Telegraph, that according
to Ali, a restaurant owner in Calcutta, Pakistanis
would not be received with the same fervor because
Indians lacked the heart and guts to do so [“Kaleja
nahin hai” he said].
How should we understand this disparity in the
conduct of Pakistanis towards Indians and of Indians
towards Pakistanis? Are Pakistanis less prejudiced
than Indians or are they more capable of rising
above hatred and mutual distrust? Does this comparison
suggest that the Wahhabi teachings supposedly
so widespread in Pakistan are no match to the
Hindutva capacity to sow hatred among Indians.
Pakistanis who live in a supposedly non-secular,
non-democratic society do not fear to show that
they are fans of Indian cricket as well as Indian
hockey teams and Indian movie stars. But apparently
in secular and democratic India, to show appreciation
for Pakistan is a potential act of treason, one
could be labeled a spy!
Amin, a Kashmiri exporter settled in Calcutta
says: “There’s no such thing as a
Pakistani fan. All Pakistani fans are spies.”
It is a shame that in the new, more confident,
more successful India, nationalism and communalism
are depriving people of basic values such as hospitality
often associated strongly with Indian culture.
In recent years Indian nationalism has used the
portrayal of Pakistan as the enemy as a way to
explain many Indian problems and to provide a
justification and cover for the rising Hindutva
movement and its egregious anti-Muslim politics.
Indian movies, the electoral discourses, media
are proliferated with articles about Pakistan’s
hand behind everything from Godhra to Kashmir.
This culture of blaming Pakistan for all of India’s
problems and the deep seated hatred and intolerance
which often does not distinguish between Pakistanis
and Indian Muslims may one day cause a terrible
holocaust in India which will make the genocide
in Gujarat 2002 look like an appetizer.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
