A parade-show by the guards is staged on both sides of the gate daily. This ceremony is open for audience. It is cheered, hooted and booed with great gusto by both sides of the audience, that is, the Pakistanis and the Indians.
The popular slogan of Pakistanis was ‘Pakistan zinda bad’, while that of the Indians was ‘Jae Hind’, among other slogans. While the Indians mostly stuck to nationalist slogans, it was the Pakistanis who also shouted slogans speaking of religious identity and pride, like ‘Pakistan ka matlab kya…La illaha illallah’.
However, I felt a little strange at their enthusiasm; for the religious zeal of the Pakistanis’ slogans did not match their appearances. For, while the Hindus did not shout any religious slogans, yet many of their girls could be seen with Sindoor in their hair, while the Muslim audience was devoid of any of their hallmarks. It is as they say in the English language that he smiled but the smile did not reach his eyes. If I could have shut out my ears for a while and looked at both sides of the border, I figured I would not have been able to tell which side are the Hindus and which side are the Muslims, for they looked the same in their outward appearance, ironically, except for the Hindu girls.
For some, this is a welcome and encouraging news. For they believe that intermingling of cultural values is a positive way of life and the road to co-existence, while adhering to one’s religious hallmarks in culture, appearance and lifestyle is equivalent to being backward, extremist, discriminatory towards other religions and anti-coexistence. For example is the wearing of the Cross by Christians, Sindoor by Hindus and the beard by Muslims. However, if a Muslim girl wears the Sindoor, or a Muslim boy wears the Cross, it will be really applauded as being broadminded.
I live in Islamabad. I have studied from the Beaconhouse School. The City School was perhaps only half a kilometer away. There were debates, sports and art competitions which required the students of the two schools to intermingle. Yet, it did not cross the mind of any, neither students nor administration, that we should start wearing each others badges, sashes or uniform to promote peace, harmony and indiscrimination. They coexisted while wearing their identities. It is not discrimination, but distinction.
Islam promotes distinction, denounces being faceless human beings and condemns being a copycat.
The Messenger of Allah Prophet Muhammed SAW said, ‘He does not belong to us who imitates other people’.
[Narrated Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Al-'As, Al-Tirmidhi, N. 1207]
Is it a surprise then that the independence we fought and secured sixty-three years ago, in the name of Islam, is at a very, very high risk today?
For it is Nature’s Law that a blessing that is not honored is rolled back. If we want Pakistan to continue to exist, the answer does not lie in relying upon false friendships, nor turning traitors upon true friends, nor in selling our citizens, nor offering our tribal areas to vent out anger drones, nor begging money world-wide and nor splashing colors at Holi on our borders, for hope of acceptance. Rather, we are imprudently inviting the wrath of Allah SWT which He will met out at the hands of the very people we are trying to please, Saddam Hussain and his people being a recent example. If we had to do all this, then there was no need for a separate homeland for Muslims. We could have done all this sitting right in the middle of India. As for the concept of Pakistan being created for the political positioning of ‘Muslims’, trust me Allah SWT does not care even sixpence for it. For, people devoid of the Islamic spirit, values and color, are not even recognized by Allah SWT as Muslims.
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