Daily Times

There are melodies in languages but it is a rarity that a language is melodious. Do visit a Saraiki Jhoak if you want to feel the softness of language and humbleness of culture. For elevation of soul, Ghulam Fareed’s mystical poetry will nurture the need for love and tranquillity.

Hailing from the rugged Northwest visiting the Saraiki belt, especially its rural areas, was always a pleasant experience during my research career. In any other part of the civilised world – such a region with distinct soft cultural characteristics – would be promoted through political empowerment.  However, for the sake of myopic state imposed unity through the uniformity approach, the people of the region face negligence and cultural oppression. Perhaps the Saraiki belt is also the victim of its geography as the region is surrounded by other cultures possessing political administrative power. “We (Saraiki) are the missing persons,” Athar Lashari, a local journalist and resident of Bahawalpur lamented.

Ironically, the delusion of security paranoia shaped the notion of centralist state that led to interpret pluralism and diversity as a threat instead of opportunity. Therefore, since the beginning, the state elites, particularly the security establishment is averse to cultural identities and regional autonomy. Consequently, voices for cultural identities and regional autonomy were being dubbed as secessionist tendencies and countered either through the use of religion, pseudo movements and sometime force.

The struggle for Saraikistan or the Saraiki Suba is not new. The movement for the Saraiki province and cultural identity was going on, in various form mostly spearheaded by Saraiki poets, intellectuals and academics. However, the movement had mostly been encountered through the Bahawalpur province. “Whenever there is momentum for the Saraiki Province, the so called proponents of the Bahawalpur province surface,” said Athar.

In the past, the creation of the South Punjab province is either used as a political slogan or a counter move in the nearest past against the PML-N, specifically the Sharif family’s hold on the power base of the Punjab province.  Thus the inhabitants of Saraiki belt look askance at the PTI’s promise too. “Uptil now it is merely a lollipop. So far the government neither constituted a provincial commission nor held or called a meeting of stakeholders,” said Zahoor Ahmad Darejo, Chief Editor of a Multan based Saraiki daily, Jhoak.

Once again the creation of the South Punjab Province gained momentum just three months before the general election of July 2018, when some of PML-N’s previous electables deserted their party after getting a wink from the powerful quarters and formed the Junoobi Punjab Suba Mahaz (JPSM) in April, 2018. Shortly, the nascent JPSM merged into the PTI before the July election on the condition that PTI accept their demands of creating the province if it came into power.

The delusion of security paranoia shaped the notion of centralist state that led to interpret pluralism and diversity as a threat instead of opportunity. Therefore, since the beginning, the state elites, particularly the security establishment is averse to cultural identities and regional autonomy. Consequently, voices for cultural identities and regional autonomy were being dubbed as secessionist tendencies and countered either through the use of religion, pseudo movements and sometime force

It is yet to be seen how much the PTI’s government is sincere to uphold its commitment. But the penchant to cling to the colonial command and control approach, indicates, that any decision in this regard will be motivated by the requirements and vagaries of power politics; but not on the aspirations of the inhabitants of the region. Such colonial impositions always created polarisation and resentment in the past. A glaring example is NWFP which was name as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2010 through the eighteenth constitutional amendment in 2010.  Again naming a province after its geographical location at the cost of its distinct, historical, cultural identity will be another addition to the long list of colonially imposed misnomers. “It will be another historical mistake to deny the basic right of identity to the Saraiki people,” cautioned Darejo.

The present Punjab is home to 110 million, in terms of population it is larger than the other three federating units.  Certainly, new province   will increase administrative efficiency and outreach to the people of in the South. Presently the Indian Punjab is divided into four provinces. But what is the harm in aligning the administrative requirement and adjustment with aspirations of the people in the region? By nature human beings love their identities and thus only tangible materialistic prosperity cannot satisfy them. Scotland is a glaring example of this sense of deprivation.

Moreover, the geophysical location of the Saraiki belt with no extrovert cultural or linguistic links beyond the borders should not ruffle the anxiety of the geo-strategic Tsars of our security state. Instead of submersion by the dominant one, recognition of distinct cultural identities synergies the unity and leads to a tolerant pluralistic polity.

Certainly, such neglected regions need political and administrative empowerment, but not without identity. If only political autonomy, devolution of power through creating administrative units and development could substitute for identities, the Scots would be the most satisfied under the United Kingdom.  It is an opportunity for the PTI lead government to break away from the colonial past by balancing the necessities of power politics with ground realities and addressing the long standing deprivation of the Saraiki belt by acknowledging their cultural identity too.

The writer is a political analyst hailing from Swat. Tweets @MirSwat

Published in Daily Times, November 17^th 2018.