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Punjabism

Punjabism is based on the idea that power arises and stays in Punjab first,
that anyone who disagrees with Punjab is a traitor.

By Syed Kamran Hashmi | August 2020

The failure of Pakistan to emerge as a model Muslim state is disturbing. Most people blame the ruling elite, financial corruption, nepotism and sheer incompetence. Though the criticism also includes the military and civil bureaucracy, it is the politicians who have to face the brunt. This frame of mind explains why the urban middle class fixes its hopes on anyone who promises change and accountability. People do not mind if that particular messiah has himself taken an unconstitutional route to come into power, a route in which he has trampled over the people’s right to choose, the right to speak up and the right to govern themselves.

Some decades ago, in 1999, when General Musharraf overthrew the elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, sweetmeat shops ran out of sweets. People were celebrating and congratulating each other on the streets when the incoming general announced his seven-point agenda and promised accountability from top to bottom. Almost no one supported the Sharif family then, including the Pakistan People’s Party. However, General Musharraf failed to deliver his promises over time. Corruption, instead of going down shot up - and he was forced to step down after eight years in power.

Musharraf’s slogan for accountability never died though. It was picked up and carried forward by Imran Khan, then an insignificant opposition leader, who gained popularity and won the support of the masses by following a simple rule: beat the drum against corruption louder and louder. This clicked with the people. He is in power today and he meets the same challenges that General Musharraf did. It is true though that after two years of NAB’s hyperactivity against the opposition, not a single penny has been recovered. Should people lose hope in Imran Khan’s ability to perform as they find themselves further tricked with nonsensical explanations like bad team and good captain, honest leader and corrupt nation?

Is it all really this simple? Does Pakistan really follow a typical superhero movie script? That there are super-villains - the politicians stealing the money and resources; and there are superheroes - the military and its selected team chasing them, putting them away and bringing the wealth back to the people. Are we always going to talk about these issues from the same angle, look at them through the same lens? If we do, nothing will change as it never has. So, let us try a different approach:

Currently, the Pakistan Army is conducting an operation in Balochistan. It directs another one in Waziristan, formerly part of FATA (Federally Administrative Tribal Areas), now a district of KPK (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary force, patrols the streets of Karachi. This means the only province spared active military presence, intervention or operation, is Punjab. Why?

Without delving into the details of how the British defined an artificial martial race in India, and under what circumstances that definition was brought up, or talking about the statistical majority of the Punjabis in the military, the idea I want to discuss is that somehow the military tends to preserve the predominance of Punjab in Pakistan. It is thus Punjab which defines national interest or patriotism and it is Punjab which defines treason. It is Punjab which believes it should safeguard both the ideological and physical boundaries of Pakistan and it is Punjab which may or may not legitimize and lengthen military rule, even when the person at the top is not a Punjabi himself as was the case with Generals Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan and Pervez Musharraf. How does one explain that oddity? Compare the situation of Abul Kalam Azad presiding over the All Indian Congress. Can we say that the Congress represented the interests of Muslims of India because Abul Kalam Azad was a Muslim? Probably not.

Turn the pages of history once more. One reason for the separation of East Pakistan was the predominantly Punjabi army which looked down at the people of East Pakistan. It somehow couldn’t accept a Bengali politician ruling over them even after he had won the elections. We may not be dealing with that severe a situation in Balochistan or KPK at present but the ethnic monitories do feel that Punjab wants to rule them like its colony and not as equal partners and the will of Punjab’s patriotism is enforced by the Army.

In the current political scenario too, Imran khan seems to be addressing the Punjabi urban middle class only. His dialogue on human rights with the middle classes of smaller provinces is missing. Nawaz Sharif, though he was well-respected among leaders of other provinces, focused on Punjab. He knew that the way to the Prime Minister’s house went through electoral success on GT Road. The development projects he brought to this area compared to other parts tell the whole story.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto may have bee one of the most popular and charismatic leaders of Pakistan but he did not belong to Punjab. But it must also be realized that he derived major public support from Punjab from where he won two-thirds majority, both in the national and provincial assemblies. The current PPP does not woo Punjabis and keeps out of Islamabad.

Let us not be confused with the simple mathematics of Punjab having a larger share of the national assembly seats. Punjabism is based on the idea that the country’s resources are offered and distributed to Punjab first, that power arises and stays in Punjab first, that anyone who disagrees with Punjab is a traitor.

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