Haresh, supposedly the guest and visitor, pulled his own strings to come to Pakistan to meet his own daughter. [Haresh's forefathers and foremothers come from Pre-Partion Sindh and had to migrate to present-day India to escape the bloodbath of the Partition.] It took more a week of string pulling, phone calls and negotiations for him to come here from India. This is the legacy of Partition. We are close but so far away. We were once living pre-modern, pre-state existences but now we are divided on communal and nationalist lines. The ideological brainwashing is so deep that the ordinary Pakistani has no rational, objective or humane way of thinking about their identity as a human. The British and the brown sahibs totally divided us to the point that we can't easily cross an invisible line, this treacherous border for which millions died and thousands of women were raped in 47 and 71. A family like mine lives the legacy of Partition every nerve racking minute but don't think it doesn't effect you - this elite carving up of Hindustan. You are ideologically brainwashed into thinking folks across an artificial and non existent line are your enemy. You are forever forbidden from traveling and enjoying a beautiful sub continent. You are forbidden from living in harmony with people. We have to resist this Partition and, fight to reunite the subcontinent. If East and West Germany could reunite why not us?
No comments:
Post a Comment