Caste difference: Homelessness of a common Pakistani

Up till now we have discussed specific kinds of homeless figures like Prostitutes,transgenders and women in general but what we skipped in the discussion was the homelessness of an average poor Pakistani who is deprived of his/her basic necessities and stuck in the cruel structure of class which does not easily allow going up in the order. An average man is always fed the doze to be a "Ghairatmand" Pakistani and that he should bear the difficulties with "Sabar". We see this type of attitude from the people as well, as we see in Shehzad Roy's video "Laga Reh", where the man says, "Sab kuch Allah pe chorh do". Although this attitude exists in the common, but they are forced to say this because of the repeated failures of government's promises about the change situation. A man who cannot afford to educate his children cannot even dream of moving up the order. Today it is education which can eradicate a person's poverty and give him a chance to move up the social ladder but even this is not available to the poor.

The other day, i came across this photo published in the Express Tribune. This is not a small town, this is the provincial and financial capital Lahore. Lahore, where the elite would spend countless on useless things but this boy would not even have access to basic education because he has to support his family.

One question which bugs my mind, Which one of these is a more secular figure, the boy or his parents?

Issues of Identity

Over the course of the semester we have discussed a lot about issues of identity and exile. While collecting data for our final project for this course which is a documentary pertaining to the Baluch people, the issues of identity and exile were themes which kept coming up again and again in the interviews of the Baluch nationals, that we conducted. Most of these people have spent at least three to four years studying or living in Punjab now. One thing which was very prominent was the fact that there are not only Baluchis living in Baluchistan i.e. the people who speak Baluchi language but there are people from other ethnicities as well like the Hazara and the Pashtuns. What we came to know about from some of the interviews from the Hazara community was the fact that they had migrated from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan and then from Afghanistan to Baluchistan in the 1880s and then during the Soviet war in the 1980s. Due to the recent sectarian and ethnic violence in Baluchistan a lot of these people have been forced to move to other places like Europe. What is noteworthy is the fact that these people are in constant exile. They cannot associate themselves to a single place because their language and traditions are very different from the place where they are geographically located. What moved me personally was the question that if a Hazara from Baluchistan who is living in Europe is confronted with the question as to who he is, what would his answer be. This raises a lot of questions as to how people identify themselves.

Hum dekhain gay

Jab zulm-o-sitam ke koh-e-garan
Rooi ki tarah ur jaenge
Hum mehkoomon ke paaon tale
Ye dharti dhar dhar dharkegi
Aur ahl-e-hakam ke sar oopar
Jab bijli kar kar karkegi

Above are some extracts taken from the poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz written in period of political unrest. The poet is promising the whole nation peace and justice through this poem. Faiz wrote this poem in 1979 to depict the cruel and corrupt Zia Ul Haq's dictatorship. It is important to note that this poem is work done in exile; Faiz was imprisoned for his outspoken stance at the political disruption in Pakistan. 

In my perspective these lines are extremely powerful. Faiz has used unconventional imagery to depict justice being done to the unjust politicians when he says that the 'dharti' these politicians own would turn against them and they would be sandwiched between the land and the lightening from the sky. The kind of punishments the poet imagines for them do not involve a second party (i.e the 'awaam') holding authority as to what should be done to them. Rather it is the very land and sky that would turn against them. The very same land and sky which they proudly own and control in name of a country. It is also to note that justice will only be brought if the 'dharti' pulsates loud and fast enough to scare these politicians. Giving 'dharti' humanistic qualities also expresses the love poet holds for his country. He values it like a living being.

We also see anger and rage expressed on behalf of the oppressed nation when Faiz uses 'lightening' in his imagination to destroy the tyrannies of dictators and dictatorship. 

Hence it can be concluded that this poem is written with emotional drives which heightened due to the feelings of exile, imprisonment and being punished for fighting for justice. 

Hum Dekhein gay

The overall feel of this Mili Naghma evokes a sense of hope which we have seen in the characters like Salim Mirza from Garam Hawa where solution to everything is directed towards Allah. Faiz Ahmed does the same thing in this Nazm when he remind us of the judgment day which is promised by Allah in Loh-e-Azl (Quran). He then connects this after life hope with corrupt rulers (Ahl-e-Hukm) and people (mehkoom). This kind of Mili Naghma sort of presupposes that people cannot change their situation in their life but in afterlife they will be sitting on Masnad and Ahl-e-Hukm will be suffering. This kind of poetry is in contrast with the current national narrative of songs like Ab Khud kuch kerna parray ga by Atif Aslam and Atrings where people are given control of their life instead of relying on any promised Justice in afterlife.

The amalgamation of religious and national sentiments is the focal point in the Nazm where religion and national has been related in such a way that they seem one entity instead of religion being just one of other components of nation. For instance this passage:

Jab arz-e-khuda ke kaa’ba se

Sab butt uthai jaingay

Hum ahl-e-safa mardood-e-hiram

Masnad pe bithaye jaingay

Sab taaj uchalay jaingay

Sab takht giraye jaingay

Hum bhi dekhengay

Faiz use the word Ahl-e-Safa mardood-e-hiram which denotes Mulsim identity and then in the next lines he talks about overthrowing corrupt rulers of this time. This passage is in reference to the event when Prophet Abraham pillaged idols and he is also associated with the construction of Kaa’ba. The narrative of the nazm compares this victory of Abraham over idolaters with ordinary peoples over their current rulers. In Nutshell this mili naghma portrays religious and national identity as the same thing which has been seen in other older songs and videos.     

On the motherland

The female singer in Sohni Dharti and Jeevay Jeevay represented the nation’s own appropriation of the concept of a motherland, in the same way as the subcontinent would see a “Mother India”. To have these very nationalistic songs sung by women is to appeal to the idea of the nation as first and foremost a “mother”land, not just your place of birth but the home that gives you your identity. It is meant to evoke a certain kind of sentiment for one’s homeland, that of the bond between a mother and her offspring- unconditional and everlasting. However, though both songs appeal to national solidarity, Jeevay Jeevay and Sohni Dharti were released at different times in very different contexts. Jeevay Jeevay makes direct appeals to the preservation of a unified nationhood whereas Soni Dharti focuses more on the land and its endless bounty. Both however, reiterate the point that we must view our homeland as God’s gift for which we must always be thankful; in the same way that the child is eternally grateful to the mother for gifting him with life. Jeevay Jeevay was released for the specific purpose of calling for the integration of east and west Pakistan. Its lyrics appeal for a unity and solidarity among all Pakistanis: “Bikhray Howoon Ko Bichray Howoon Ko, Ik Markaz Pay Laya.” Soni Dharti, on the other hand never mentions the name of Pakistan which is why it is different from other nationalist songs such as Dil Dil Pakistan. Soni Dharti is written almost as a prayer or a song of praise, which sung by a female singer, renders it with hymn-like qualities.

'Laga Reh' and 'Allergic to Bullshit'

Ironically, the dialogues included in Shehzad Roy's song 'Laga Reh' like "In ko mat jagaao yeh kisi zaruri kaam se so rahe hain" or "Mujhe fikar yeh nahi hai ke mulk kaise chalega, mujhe fikar yeh hai ke kahin aise hi na chalta rahe' were first used in his song 'Bullshit' for the bollywood movie 'Katta meetha'. The movie highlights the same problems faced by Pakistan today such as corruption. The song went quite viral it was released. The main reason were these lines which highlight the common problems of the people of Pakistan and India

From the idea of Perfect Nation to the need for Reforms

After watching the patriotic songs from the 60's it is pretty clear that the states wants to insert an idea of blind faith in the nation which clearly overlooks many problems which the country faced at the time. These patriotic songs from the only television in the country on-aired songs which gave people a false sense of unity. The people of West Pakistan enjoyed prosperity where as the the East Pakistanis suffered. This hid the ultimate result of the prevailing situation.
In contrast, the songs from the post twentieth century stress on the need for reforms and highlight the loopholes in the system. This is mainly due to the freedom of media in the Musharraf regime. The state no longer controls what the people see.