'Pakistan relation with Multiculturalism: a brief note.."
This
brief note aims to map out the relation of Pakistan with multiculturalism. The
scope for developing research into Pakistan relation(s) with multiculturalism
is one of the possibilities this note highlights, thus hoping to bring to the
fore the relevance of engaging Pakistan into the multicultural dialogue
internationally, and at home.
Pakistan
was borne to become a homeland for the Muslims of India. Intricacies apart, the
partition of the subcontinent in 1947, saw the creation of two new states,
India and Pakistan. By 1971 Pakistan lost her eastern most territory to give
way to Bangladesh, where majority of population speaks Bengali, and has an
identity specificity that contrasts with the rest of the hitherto West
Pakistan.
If
we’ll think of Pakistan’s relation with multiculturalism we’ll find a sinuous
road ahead. The genesis of the idea of Pakistan in itself may raise questions
on whether multiculturalism, understood through western lenses may be
applicable to Pakistani reality. This may constitute a point for future
research. However, Bhikhu Parekh (2000) suggests that in order to define a
multicultural society, we need two or more cultural communities. Pakistan fits
in.
To be
sure, Pakistan is constituted by a rich and diverse cultural background. For
instance, the five main spoken languages
and the several dialects within each,
set the tone for the country’s cultural diversity; each of the five main
languages be it the supra-national Urdu or the provincial associated Balochi,
Pashto, Punjabi and Sindhi do have their own literary extensive tradition,
which act as an identity marker across the different provinces. The language diversity is itself an identity
marker for Pakistanis of different sub-nationalities. If at times the language
factor has been used to create political scenarios, often resulting in tensions
between the centre and the provinces, what is perhaps relevant to acknowledge is
the importance languages bring to the cultural diversity of Pakistan, and the
ways they create to define a multicultural society.
In
Pakistan it is not wrong to say, and it can be easily ascertained that Muslim
culture is ever present. The rhythm of the days, the ritualization associated
with the everyday lives of the people turn evident how Islam is and can be
expressed culturally. Islam serves as a
strong, if not the main, identity marker in Pakistan, and has often been worked
out as the only possible way to keep the diverse country united; however it
must be noted that well before 1947 the regional culture of the people was
already a well ascertained element of the different ethnic groups that were
assembled to form the new independent country. Much of the frictions that
Pakistan has known internally, but also externally are in great measure caused
by top-down attempts to impose an Islamic state imprinting into a population
which in fact was already intrinsically Muslim, holding strongly into Islamic
values. Hence, in Pakistan cultural diversity has not always been let to be
fully expressed into its particularities, so that a determined state narrative
could be constructed. It is due to the
role of supra-national culture that has been imparted to Islam, and the ways successive
governments, either civilian or military, have dealt with it, that makes
difficult to grasp the nature of multiculturalism in Pakistan, if framed in
western terms, despite being a strongly identified multicultural society.
Notwithstanding,
cultural diversity appears remain a strong feature in Pakistan. In the large
urban centres of the country, like in Lahore or Karachi, it is possible to
identify how such diversity lives side by side. Karachi, which is often called ‘mini Pakistan’ (of around 20
million people), has however seen the ugliest side of what cultural diversity
can turn into. Despite having been highjacked by political interests in the
name of ethnic particularism, in order to grab power, this megacity remains a
beacon of cultural diversity in Pakistan, and perhaps a space where
multiculturalism needs to be ascertained more seriously, in order to promote a
harmonious co-habitation.
Furthermore,
it is important to keep in mind the importance of the large Pakistani diaspora,
which can be found across the globe, from the closer Middle East, to the United
Kingdom, to North America. The diaspora has an important role on extending
Pakistani cultural diversity overseas. Keeping the diaspora connected with its
roots perhaps presents some challenges particularly if we pay attention to the
power hegemonic western notions of society do impart into the livelihoods of
all of us. However, Pakistani diaspora, despite numerous challenges, often
related with discrimination on the basis of religion, keeps being a great
source for sustaining the idea of a multicultural Pakistan. Moreover, the diaspora holds the potential,
to handle in a positive way the image problem Pakistan effectively has. More
often than not, Pakistan is portrayed in most nefarious ways, which to a
certain extent prevents the understanding of how culturally rich and diverse
this country is. This richness must be brought up to the fore on many of the
discussions that involve Pakistan, in an attempt to express that states are
above all constituted by human beings.
Hence,
I sustain that Pakistan offers a number of possibilities to engage those
interested in multiculturalism studies. It offers the possibility to think and
re-think multiculturalism on its components of normative political project, its
virtues of being an attempt to create bridges for cultural diversity, and the
challenges that are imposed as the result of fast growing globalization
movements. Pakistan is a place for multi cultures, and, at the same time, a
place where assimilations take place, thus representing a challenge for the
scholar of multiculturalism. This challenge may well be converted into new
avenues for scholarship, with the ultimate aim of offering ideas and possible
solutions for the issues citizens across the world experience as the result of
the more frequent encounters of different cultures and diverse world views.
Parekh, B.C., 2002. Rethinking multiculturalism:
Cultural diversity and political theory. Harvard University Press.
Maria Bastos, School of Governance and Society, UMT, Lahore
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