HVK Archives: Pakistan in pursuit of a pedigree
Pakistan in pursuit of a pedigree - Voice of Jammu Kashmir
Arvind Ghosh, U.S.A.
()
1997 January-February
Title : Pakistan in pursuit of a pedigree
Author : Arvind Ghosh, U.S.A.
Publication : Voice of Jammu Kashmir
Date : January-February, 1997
(The author a thinker of great originality and immense erudition
has attempted to show the inherent ambiguities and incongruities
that seem to haunt and torment Pakistanis in general and a few
intellectuals that live in that theocracy in modern times).
The Pakistan Arts Council here recently presented a black -tie
event (no overflowing Arabic garments here) called Tapestries in
the Looms of Time. It was held at the Asia Museum. There were
displays of costumes, jewellery, pottery and even paintings from
Pakistan. The idea was to tell the world that Pakistan was a
modern Islamic country, rich with a unique cultural heritage,
diverse and ancient.
The aspect that was highlighted was 'the mysterious, rich and
mystical past' of Pakistan where the first traces of civilization
went back half a million years. Archaeologists were cited that
there are traces of human beings roaming near today's Islamabad
during the inter-glacial era, over 5000 years ago. Can one imagine
that even the Prophet had not been born then! No sign of Islamic
Pakistan was in sight.
The narration was done by one Zia Mohyeddin, a smooth-tongued
Pakistani Mohmmedan, resident in Britain. He spoke about the Indus
Valley Civilization of 5,000 years ago. He talked about the ruins
of Mohanjodaro and Harappa and mentioned the fact that at the time
'most Of Europe still wore animal skins'. What Zia forgot to
mention was that there was no sign of Pakistan then either, not
even of Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam.
In fact, all the archaeological items Zia boasted of were in
reality elements of Hindu-Buddhis India's Vedic past; a past that
invading Islamic hordes from West Asia were busy dismantling and at
the same time sinking roots of an imperialism born of the Koran,
which imperialism would, in due course, leave its residue. It is
this residue, a mixture of rapacious mongrel armies from a host of
countries extending from Marocco to Turkey, Persia and Arabia that
would, in due course, appear as the Islamic presence on the
subcontinent, only in 1947 AD.
The great things Pakistan may have done can therefore extend from
1947 onward. The fairy tales that Zia narrated went far behind
that. In fact, for a Mohammedan country, any Mohammedan country,
everything that had existed before the appearance of the Prophet,
was sinful, a part of Jahiliya or pre-Islamic darkness. It is,
therefore surprising to see these proud Islamic Pakistani people
taking so much credit for the glories of Mohanjodaro and Harappa!
Then what is the underlying reason for the exhibition of this 'look
at me, look at me' attitude of the Pakistan Arts Council? And
everyone knows that Pakistan is not quite a seat for arts, any
arts. In a cultural system that frowns upon all artistic
expressions not strictly approved by the Islamic clergy and the
Shariah, what can really happen but repetition of the age-old and
hackneyed?
Pakistan is now going to set up a structure in memory of
Alexander(they call him Sikandar) the Great, who had invaded India
(and not Pakistan!) at the time of the Hindu King Puru (or Porus).
It was Puru who had stopped Alexander who then returned to Greece,
his homeland. Then what is the big idea? Where does Pakistan come
in? The idea is of course to attract foreign (Western) tourists
for economic reasons. But then, we have already seen how all the
foreign newspaper reporters that cover Pakistani news items (such
as mutual shootings inside of mosques of Pakistan between Shia's
and Sunni's, do so from Indian cities like Delhi and Mumbai, but
not from Karachi or Islamabad!
That is a shame and more so because those who go today by the name
of Mohajir were the ones that were at the forefront of the Pakistan
movement and for some queer Islamic reasons, they are the ones who
are being gunned down in the streets of Karachi today. One wonders,
therefore, in what way the still-to-be-created Alexander Memorial
will make any difference in the Pakistani way of life, which draws
its inspiration not from the hellenic Greeks, nor from the heathen
Hindu-Buddhists but only from the camel drivers of Arabia!
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