A case of Punjabi & the Punjab – 1
Indigenous people called it Punj-nad (Nihar and nadi are old words used for rivers),
Spat- Sindhu ( Land of seven rivers), Indus Valley,
Greeks called it Panta-Potamia (Panta is five in old Greek language), Persians
, Arabs also called it Punjab (Punj is five and ab is water) so we can easily
understand roots of the Punjab and Punjabi from ancient times.
Today more than 200 million Punjabis live in the world and
their majority lives in Pakistan which is more than 120 million. As I have planned to write a trilogy on the
Punjab and naturally it will be in my mother tongue so I am reading numerous
old and new books yet these days I read some articles about Punjab, Punjabi and
Punjabiat. Although there are omissions and errors in these articles yet in
order to collect this debate I decided to save them in this blog. In this first
post I added 5 articles and if you find any interesting article please send me
at aamirriaz1966@gmail.com .
5 July 2015
The Punjab is defined not by its political boundaries but by its linguistic geography because political boundaries may be sublime but linguistic connections are permanent. This collective lingual unity of the Punjab has been nurtured by its selfless commoners for centuries and they are its real custodians.
A case of Punjabi nationalism
31 May 2015
Academics studying the phenomenon of ethno-nationalism in Pakistan usually stick to tendencies such as Sindhi, Baloch and Pakhtun nationalisms (and, in the past, Bengali nationalism, and now even Mohajir nationalism).
Nevertheless, what gets missed in the more holistic study of the said issue is a nationalism that is actually associated with what is usually decried to be a hegemonic and elitist ethnic group: the Punjabi.
Smokers’ Corner: The other Punjab
http://www.dawn.com/news/1184953
15 February 2015
When Gujranwala born, British Pakistani novelist Nadeem Aslam quotes couplets of a rather unknown rural Punjabi Poet Abid Tamimi in his novel Maps for lost lovers (2004), he is subconsciously establishing his native connectivity. He furthers this theme in his latest novel The Blind Man’s Garden (2013) by creating a whole fictional town named Heer (inspired by Waris Shah’s legend) and proudly claims that all his future novels will be set in this Punjabi town.
In the name of Punjabiyyat
13 March 2012
Putting all the blame on Punjabis is a post-1971 syndrome. From 1947 till 1971, the pro-centralist Pakistani establishment remained busy in managing the Bengali majority, while after 1971 they had a desire to weaken the remaining four provinces, especially the Punjab, so that no one could challenge the centralist forces
These days Punjab is under discussion. The resonance of an anti-Punjab clamour was heard recently even in the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, regarding Balochistan. Here I need to write about the Punjab and its liberal-progressive history of the 20th century, which looks problematic.
Our anti-Punjab clamour — 1 —Aamir Riaz Daily Times
Putting all the blame on Punjabis is a post-1971 syndrome. From 1947 till 1971, the pro-centralist Pakistani establishment remained busy in managing the Bengali majority, while after 1971 they had a desire to weaken the remaining four provinces, especially the Punjab, so that no one could challenge the centralist forces
These days Punjab is under discussion. The resonance of an anti-Punjab clamour was heard recently even in the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, regarding Balochistan. Here I need to write about the Punjab and its liberal-progressive history of the 20th century, which looks problematic.
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