Session 2

The Indus Saga and the Making of Pakistan

 Since the beginning, the Indus region has been the hub of civil wars and separatist
paroxysm.
 Pakistanis identity crisis; Pakistanis imbibe Persian, Arab and Hindu traits – the
distinctiveness of their identity did not merely spring right at the time of partition or
during the War of Independence (1858). The divide existed well before that; the reading
mainly focuses on how far the origins of this distinct Pakistani identity can be stretched.
 Much of what Pakistanis have grown up to believe about their identity comes from
narratives strategically tailored to conform to what the establishment wants people to
know.
 The Indian subcontinent has been treated as a single unit by historians; ‘Indian history’
incorporates all past events that have taken place in region lying between the Indian
Ocean and the Himalayas
 The land through which the tributaries of the river pass is called Indus and it is different
from the rest of the subcontinent i.e. India, in terms of geography
 From prehistory to the nineteenth century, Indus has been Pakistan and the 1947 partition
is a reassertion of that reality
 Pakistan preceded even the advent of Islam in the subcontinent; it has been there long
before the Muslims of India realised that their different interests and views cannot coexist
with those of Hindus, Pakistan wasn’t a chasm that Indian Muslims created out of
nowhere in 1937 as is believed by some Indians
 The subcontinent has always been divided into two parts; Indus has always been one
large, independent, politicio-economic zone
 The concept of the subcontinent’s oneness was given by the unified hold of the Raj and
was eagerly accepted by Indians
 Holding on to this belief of oneness of the subcontinent, pakistan’s history has always nly
been tied to the history of India
 More attention is given to how past Indian dynasties came into existence and declined;
politics of the Indus have been neglected even though they’ve shaped the history of
Pakistan substantially

 Many Pakistani scholars and writers choose to trace their country’s roots to extra
territorial linkages; while they refuse to incorporate the attributes Pakistan and Pakistanis
have inhibited from Hindus and India, they deny whatever we have taken in from the
Indus
 This, in turn, makes it hard to understand the pride mohajirs take in their association with
his birthplaces in Agra, Lucknow and Allahabad. It was feared that any commanality
between Pakistanis and Indians would jeaopardise their rationale. Therefore,
commonalities with extra territorial cultures had to be looked for
 The rationale for Muslims separatism is attributed to middle eastern Arabs; a personality
switch is suggested
 Which doesn’t really make sense because there has been no interaction of Arabs with the
Indus with the exception of Sindh
 For a brief period of 144 years, Arabs had a direct political link with Sindh
 Arab authors, taking away what little they could from this brief interaction, also saw how
distinct the Indus region and Indian region were from each other
 This lack of communication between Arabs and Indus-people does NOT imply that there
weren’t significant contacts between Islam and Indus
 Indus had been exposed to Islamic doctrines and Muslim missionaries and conquerors
 Sufism
 These invaders were usually Central Asian, Persian etc
 Pakistanis have very little in common with Arabs; religion is one of the commonalities
 Ethnically, linguistically, racially and culturally Pakistanis are a lot more similar to
Indians than to Arabs

 Pre-Islamic and post-Islamic literature point towards the existence of a state that is
different and independent from India

 When dealing with political history, the movement is vertical. One event succeeds
another. But cultural history cannot be analysed in a similar manner
 Cultural history is the interplay of influences, of causes and intermingling of diverging
trends

 “The judgments of Indian Muslims have either been inspired by self-pity or self-praise;
by an idealistaion of themselves as the embodiment of religious and poltical truth or by a
condemnation of themselves as a people unworthy of their ancestors who spread the word
of God” (M Mujeeb, The Indian Muslims)
 What Mujeeb says are simplifications which make it difficult to understand history
 Historians have pointed out the defects of the western way of life and Hindu customs
which reiterates the belief that there exists a “them” who is a lot worse than us
 Establishment has tailored historical accounts to serve their agenda; history has been
distorted and Pakistanis have grown up believing that version of history
 Questioning the establishment and authorities is considered problematic because it would
only negate the rationale which serves as the foundation of Pakistan; fundamental dogma
creeps in

 From prehistory, people have come up with innovations that help them survive. From
foraging subsistence economies to agriculturalist economies, people have engaged in
some form of social/economic/political interactions
 Indus, in its development of relations of production has closely identified with relations
of production in central Asia and Iran
 Reviewing the social patterns that the Indus has followed establish its uniqueness
 It may also persuade the Indian elite to adopt a historically more apt approach when it
comes to the Kashmir issue

 Myths have influenced people’s perceptions about the people of Indus

1. Indus never offered resistance to invaders
2. Intensely fundamentalist society
3. Central Asian invasion had altruistic moves
4. Muslims of the subcontinent were immune from the severity of CA ruler and that they
enjoyed their expeditions
 Contrary to popular belief, all the resistance that came from the subcontinent was
concentrated in the Indus region; resistance towards the Aryans is testified in Hindu
sacred texts
 Nadir Shah’s entrance was resisted also
 Several battles were fought before Indus and Indians gave in to imperial power
 Myths that the elite of the indus region have formulated and perpetuated have degraded
the great nation that they are
 These myths are designed to consolidate the elite’s economic and political power; but
they demean the real people of the Indus in order to justify present day opportunism
 Indian chiefs appointed by the British after 1857 were made to believe that defiance is
wrong
 Literate classes of the Indus were weaned from their own local languages; learning the
vernacular didn’t make sense because Urdu and English ad become the medium of
instruction
 So many people are/were unaware of stories, ballads, poetry written about the Punjabi
resistance to invaders as a result of this reform
 Had Punjabi been a compulsory subject in school, children would have been cognizant of
their roots and how strong and resilient their ancestors were

 Indus region has maintained a rare individuality despite the corroboration that Asoka’s
reign provides to the belief that the subcontinent is a single unit
 Regardless of the uncertainties of history and geographical diplomacy and conflict, there
always has been a Pakistan
 The Indus state is a primordial and natural state with its root in prehistory