Musings of Mir Tanha Yousufi about
Punjab
(from his facebook)
1: Everybody knows meanings of the word “Punjab”, which
is a compound made as: Punj [=5] + [A(a)b, Persian for Water], hence the
land covering 5 rivers in North Western Indian Sub-continent.
Now if we are making small provinces than the boundaries would most
probably be along river banks, and every province would be a Doaba =do (2)
+ Aab, [Land between any two rivers], which will eliminate the word
"Punjab" forever.
Hence in future some one may write, for example, "Punjab is a noun
(basically a name) given by Persian speaking kings of Muslim origin to a
vast Trans-Indus area which historically was South-Eastern part of
Gandhara and now consists of the areas included in so & so Doaba's".
The definition of the name "Punjab" will seize to exist and we
will be called "so & so Doaabee" and would be named as
"Rachnavi", "Sagaree", " Chajji" etc.
Be prepared for those bad times!!!!
No body likes Punjab, as no body likes USA. But remember, there is a
saying about American that every body shouts against America in this way
"Americans go home and take me with you".
No one loves Punjab but every body wants to have Wheat, Cotton, Sugar,
Fruits etc, the produce of Punjab.
Later, when we will be divided, we will say "Multani Cotton",
"Chajee Kinoo", "Rachnavi Rice", or Sagree (from Sindh
Sagar Doaaba) Dates". There will nothing be attached to
"Punjab". Punjab will be history and we will be declared the
criminals who "killed Punjab".
If it happens than Baba Farid Ganj-Shakr (R A A) would be a Multani Poet,
Baba Bulleh Shah would become a Baariite (from Bari Doab), Mian Muhammad
Bakhsh would definitely be a Pothohari Poet, even though not a single full
line of Saiful-muluk is in pure Pothohari etc.
I don’t know how would we deal with Guru Nanak, Sultan Bahu (R A A) and
other great Sufi poets, the equals of whom are impossible to find.
Once we had done with Punjab, we will go for District level politics and
within one Doaaba, we will make three/four smaller provinces because the
sons, cousins, daughters, uncle would like to be called Minister,
Advisors, Nazims and so on.
Then a time will come when the people of one "Tehsil" will hate
the people of other Tehsil in the same district.
The story "may" stop at the level of streets, hence we will be
known as Prime Minister of Street No 420, President of Gali No 302, Chief
Justice of Kocha Faqeeran.......
I think the people who are demanding for more provinces should be sent to
Russia, where areas three times greater than whole Pakistan are in one
administrative unit.
Or they may visit Andhra Pardesh in India whose population is more than 20
Crore, 2 Crore more than all of us, and an area almost equal to our
Balochistan.
Foreigners divided us and ruled us for more than 200 years, and now their
loyals are trying to do the same with us. They have sowed the seeds of
hatered in all the provinces and so, Baloch is hating Punjabi, Pathan is
hating Muhajir, Sindhi is hating Punjabi Aabadkar, Hazarvis hate Pathans,
and Punjabis have started hating themselve.
Punjabis are pushed to the wall, and I wonder what may happen if Panjabis,
one day said, "Don't talk to me, I am a Punjabi, and I don't want to
deal with anyone".
2: It is absolutely not necessary that we start a
"socio-political" party or in Urdu word "a Tehreek":
- History chooses its course by itself.
- The course is decided by the compulsion of past, desires of future and
resources of the present.
- Fanaticism kills logic (you use a weapon when the opponent does not
listen to your point of view).
We need workers, but for what? What is our demand? What we want? What are
our objectives, goals and aims?
The answer is not easy!
We have to do some soul-searching. We are the most unfortunate people, who
have no goals. We live ad-hoc lives. We need good food, good clothings and
a lot of show-off stuff. We are not ready to sacrify, at all.
I am sorry to say that when we give a poor
some alms, we immediately want reward from Allah for our good deed.
We need to preserve our language. OK. Now what is our language? There are
more than 3 dozens of dialects of Punjabi. Further, the speaker of every
dialect has thousands of arguements proving that his/her dialect is the
"real/actual" Punjabi and calls this dialect a complete
“Language” and tells that all the others are speaking dialects of
“his” language . On a major scale, we have Saraiki, Pothohari, Hindko,
Kashmiri, Chhachhee, Riastee, Maajhee, Lehndee and so on, which are, to
me, nothing but different pictures of same face, whereas everyone is
shouting that it is “his” face that shines the most.
So what we select as the "National language of Punjab”. You select
one and then listen to endless abusive names, written alongwith your
actual name!
You say there are 9 crore Punjabis! OK. But when for instance Pothohari,
Hindko, Saraiki people walk away saying it is not their problem, there
will be less than 4 crore people who "may" admit that they are
Punjabi.
We are in a dilemma.
In the history, we were unknown entity before the Greeks started
documenting about us. Punjab was a wilderness filled with forests, bushes
and wild animals with "actual" inhabitants, the Bhels, DravaRs
and ChoohRas living in here, possibly living in cities like HaRRappa and
Moen-jo-daRo. Then came, wave after wave, the people from far away lands,
just to enjoy the food for themselves and green fresh grass for their
cattle, in the pastures along the banks of these fives rivers.
We the Punjabis, have played a lot of varying roles. We were Gandhari when
Alexender came here. Then, other than natives, we are the sons of all
those endlessly incoming "invaders" who migrated here for good
food, good dresses and a lot for show off, the obsessions still possed by
us!
Here, now, just for example, one is a Muslim, a Khan, lives in Punjab,
speaks some Punjabi dialect, but calls names to Mehmud Ghazanvi,
Shahabuddin Ghauri, Babur, Ahmed Shah and Nadir Shah. This very person
calls these kings of the past as invaders and looters and what not,
forgetting that he himself may possibly be a descendant of one of them!
One is Punjabi may be Mirza, hence a Mughal, but, now, being an inhabitant
of Punjab he loves Dullah Bhatti and hates his own predecessors, the
Mughals of Delhi, because they did not speak Punjabi.
We are Awans, Maliks, Jats, Rajputs, Syeds, etc and we are Punjabis also.
We cannot change our tribe and blood so we alter we loyalities, become
Sindhi in Sindh, become Punjabi in Punjab and become a Khyber-Pakhtoonkhaee
across the Singhu Darya.
The situation is complex!
We have a love-hate prolem. We need
everything to be good, the good which we call the good. We are the part of
a movie in which Hero and the Villian are both good and both are bad for
us. Our story is endless and does not look like closing at any stage.
I question!!!!!!!!!!!
Why don’t the people of one tribe, for example, Lodhis, Mirzas, Khokhars,
Bhattis, Cheemas, Khans, or the Syeds or any other clan, give a call to
all the other people of their kin to work for the strengthening of the
country. Again, foe instance, Rajput tribes are all over the place, in
Punjab, in Sindh, in Baluchistan and even in Pakhtoon area, but they
identify themselves with language, and not with their tribe.Why a Rajput
is not just a Rajput in the first place?
Why one Syed living in Sindh is crying only
for “Sindhu Desh”, other one is living in Punjab and sings songs of
Punjabi, yet another one, a resident of Pakhtoon area is spiritual leader
there are enjoys the beauty of Baluchistan! From which group of people the
Syeds, or Khokhars, or Mughals or any other belong? Whi are we actually!
Pakhtoons are Pakhtoons and Balochs are
Balochs by blood, but what are the Sindhis and Punjabis who are an
amulgmated gathering of the descendants of all the “invaders and looter
plus the natives”!
Am I suggesting that every clan, "a Braad’ree" should have his
own land?
No, what I am saying is that situation is not simple.
Please define who is a Punjabi?
I am asking this because some day some one from outside Punjab will ask us
the same question!!!!
And this questioning will not stop there, the next part would be,
"which Punjabi language is the 'common' a langua franca for all the
Punjabis?"
So, first we, the persons having pen and paper, should suggest our aims.
Once the goals are set, a movement will start automatically.
May Almighty bless you all. I am 100% convinced that my above thoughts are
scattered, but all is extempore, a loud thinking process.
Please excuse me.
Pakistan Zinda Bad, Punjab Paenda Bad.
Mir Tanha Yousufi
