Start a Dialogue
By Aliya Naqvi
Via e-mail
When I wrote my dissertation
three years ago, I never realized how pertinent
and relevant it would become for this day and
age. I had examined the crisis of a Pakistani
identity in the post 9/11 era. When I first introduced
this idea to my British professor, he had questioned
it, asking me what it was about the Pakistani
diaspora that made it so 'special' and he thought
I was just sensitive to the plight of Pakistani-Americans
and British-Pakistanis because I claimed Pakistani
ethnicity. At that point I had found it very hard
to articulate why I thought Pakistani identity
was so precarious and fragile. In light of July
7 and now with the London aircraft bombing plot,
perhaps my professor will want to help examine
my research further.
In my dissertation I had argued that the reaction
to the Pakistani diaspora post 9-11 was coercing
them to disassociate themselves from other 'desis'
and to bond with other Muslim communities under
the ethnicity of 'Islam'.
I had also argued that it was not just the post
9/11 environment but that the genesis of the confusion
was as old as Pakistan itself. While most religious
figures bought into Jinnah's call for a free land
for Muslims, most secular scholars called it an
opportunistic usage of religion to instigate freedom/separation
of the Indian subcontinent. While it may have
been expedient to use Islam as the rallying cry,
it unfortunately has become the identity for a
section of the population. This identification
with Islam was also convenient since it was hard
for Pakistanis to distinguish themselves otherwise
from Indians.
Fast forward to present day certain Pakistanis
are willing to harbor Al Qaeda leaders, willing
to kill each other over sectarian differences,
while the second generation British Pakistanis
are willing to strap bombs and go to Palestine
as suicide bombers, willing to kill 52 people
through buses/subways and now to blow up 10 aeroplanes
en route from Britain to the US. Why are we seeing
Pakistanis take up all the causes of other folks?
Because they have stopped viewing themselves as
Pakistanis or perhaps they never viewed themselves
as such. They only belong to the Islamic ummah
which perceives the West to have inflicted it
with all kinds of injustices. While the perceptions
may be real to these individuals, their response
has been so extreme that it has caused most moderate
Pakistanis to cringe and cower in further fear
of retaliation.
So today, instead of cringing and cowering, I
want to offer my fellow Pakistanis some advice.
For all those, who feel burdened with the misery
of all Muslims across the world, instead of taking
up arms, instead of trying to find a 'short cut'
to heaven, have the courage to do it the long
way --spend your life trying to help your fellow
Muslims. Go to Palestine, go to Afghanistan, go
to Pakistan.
Involve yourselves in the fabric of civil society
and help build it, one brick at a time. There
are numerous orphans who could benefit from a
simple education, numerous brave individuals fighting
for human rights, numerous folk trying to establish
enterprises that would benefit the poor, the helpless.
Have the courage to go out and help fellow Muslims.
You help no one when you carry out or plan to
carry out such cowardly acts. Let's talk; you
have something to say, I challenge you to take
out your anger and bitterness by starting a dialogue.
Nothing good comes out of stewing in bitterness.
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