“If you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language.” Gloria Anzaldúa
In a press conference, held a couple of days back, Punjabi writers and intellectuals, rejected the division of Punjab province, delivering a diatribe against the corrupt landlords, industrialists, and retired bureaucrats, who, to them, are responsible for the demand of the South Punjab province or the Siraiki province. The participant of the press conference believed that the demand for the new province was detrimental to Siraiki waseeb. Interestingly, Fakhar Zaman, the chairman of International Punjabi Congress, retracted from his stance of the past. In the International Writers’ Conference held in Karachi in 1986, and Democratic Writers’ Conference held in Lahore in 1987, he acknowledged the distinct ethnolinguistic identities of Siraiki and Hindko.
Whereas, the elite of the region has never been in favour of the Siraiki Waseeb or South Punjab province. Sardar Zulfiqar Khan Khosa, a former Governor of Punjab and former provincial minister for education and irrigation, would strongly oppose a person who spoke about the separate province out of Punjab. In fact, it is the demand of the common man, who suffers the unequal distribution of the resources. The region lacks safe drinking water and a proper sewerage for the cities. Health facilities are poor, and educational facilities are inadequate. On the contrary, South Punjab is serving as a “food basket” of Pakistan by contributing over 52% of the entire province’s agricultural output.
The underlying fear evident in the aforementioned press conference is clear proof that, even while acknowledging Siraiki as a distinct language and identity, Punjabi intellectuals remain reluctant to recognise the political rights associated with that identity.
The striking finding of PILDAT presents a bleak picture of actual allocation of funds to South Punjab. “In 2023-24: the original allocation was Rs 177bn, revised to Rs 172bn, only R/s 125bn was released , and actual utilization was 101bn.” The official record saying “South Punjab receives 35% of Punjab’s development fund” is misleading. “ For example , 2022-23 the government initially allocated Rs 240bn-35% of Punjab’s Rs 685 bn ADP.” Dawn reported. But PILDAT’s subsequent figures show that, “ South Punjab’s allocation was revised down to Rs 212bn, released were Rs 175bn, and actual utilisation was Rs 169bn.” Keeping in view of these gory details ain’t people of South Punjab justified in saying? “ Asan qaidi takht Lahore dey.” ( We are prisoners of the throne of Lahore.) The outcry of Punjabi intellectuals is hardly surprising. What is worth considering, however, is why they remain reluctant to acknowledge the Siraiki identity, even though Siraiki political identity has now become an established reality that can no longer be ignored. The real question, therefore, is: what are they afraid of?
Obviously, the bone of contention is the distribution of the resources and the data provided by the PILDAT speaks nothing but the truth. The resources are allocated in the papers but are reduced in real terms.The resources diverted from South Punjab are spent in central Punjab, thereby reinforcing the concentration of political power there. Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa , the distinguished defence and political analyst, holds that, “ Punjabi nationalists are scared of Siraikies since it consistently demands for recognition of their independent identity and political control over resources of areas that central Punjab feeds on and has used for decades to exert power over rest of Pakistan.”
It is another story altogether how, in order to gain control over resources, the very identity of the local people is distorted, their cultural heritage is appropriated, and even the poetry composed in their own language is labelled as Punjabi poetry. In contrast, modern research recognises Siraiki as a distinct language. Tariq Rahman says that Siraiki activists adopted the language as a symbol of an identity distinct from both Punjabi and Sindhi identities and as a means of expressing economic, political, and cultural deprivation. Prof. Dr.Najeeb Haider, an educationist and a celebrated Siraiki short story writer is of the view that, “ The demand for separate political and administrative arrangements, grounded in a region’s linguistic heritage, literary tradition, and historical experience, may be assessed within the broader framework of democratic principles, political equality, and distributive justice.”
The linguistic rights and cultural self-identification are taken care of in the established international principles. “Language is not merely a means of communication; it is also a repository of collective memory, cultural heritage and historical experience.” The underlying fear evident in the aforementioned press conference is clear proof that, even while acknowledging Siraiki as a distinct language and identity, Punjabi intellectuals remain reluctant to recognise the political rights associated with that identity. The reasons for this apprehension have already been discussed.
The position of the local people is quite straightforward: their rightful claim to their own resources should be recognised, and the resources appropriated from the Wasaib should be spent on the welfare of the people of the region. There are many stories of exploitation, though I do not have the heart to recount them. Evidently, the Punjabi intelligentsia believes in the theory of “Melting pot” instead of multiculturalism in the society. The “Melting pot’ theory holds that different identities contribute to the formation of a new shared identity and in this context it is the Punjabi identity that urges other identities to merge into it. While, Hanif Ramay, the leading Punjabi intellectual, in his book Punjab ka Muqdma realises that Punjab is reluctant to recognise other identities. He believes that, “Had Punjabis remained attached to their own mother tongue, they might have been more capable of understanding the Bengalis’ struggle to protect Bengali rather than regarding linguistic nationalism as a threat to Pakistan.”