Black Pakistan and White Pakistan

Saima Shah
Nov 7, 2005
There is a largely hidden, but infamous country in Pakistan that makes world news quite often

Black is ’s skeleton that it would rather not have. Black is largely unknown and undefined. Like Voldemort it rises unannounced to strike and then disappears we know not where. It is among us yet we know nothing of it. It seems quiescent but we don’t know if it is vanquished or if it will rise bloodier than before. What is Black ? Perhaps it is made of the country’s 70% illiterate people who have no support system other than their clan or religious center. Perhaps Black is the army camp of the or even that it is the Iceberg of which Al-Qaida is the tip. We can only speculate since Black won’t come out.


The extent of devastation and the world’s so-called inadequate response to the earthquake in is a subject of grief, analysis and continued discussion. The fact is that the earthquake coverage had poor information, hardly any images and no real analysis on CNN. So far, adequate disaster relief funds have not been raised. Even though CNN is subtly different everywhere, CNN worldwide did not provide as much coverage on the ‘quake compared to other recent disasters. Other news sources such as BBC, CBC provided it as headline news for a few days after which it sank into the daily round-up spots. In other words, no long interviews, no analysis and no mention of the one thousand or more aftershocks and the human devastation. Why did CNN deem it of less importance? That is a question that haunts Pakistanis. Was it because of prejudice against ? Many theorize but no one knows for sure.

But why did we even wonder? Perhaps that concern is a symptom of a deeper issue; the difficult terrain of being Pakistani that we traverse because of the disconnected worlds of . A disconnect so deep that it seems that there is a hidden country in responsible for all the bad things, yet Pakistanis don’t know it and cannot control it.

Whenever Pakistani news is quoted abroad, we feel a sense of let-down. Pakistani news channels frankly don’t do a very good job of covering local news. Perhaps the problem is even deeper. There isn’t a well-developed system of community news in . In you get a lot of talk shows or discussion programmes. But the fact is that 80% of the people in are not represented in the news other than perhaps as a perpetual backdrop of in images or in statistics. We don’t have local community news because of a fractured ‘we’. When local straw huts burn down, it isn’t the subject of interest. The role of in public life is not very advanced even though it is far ahead of what it was like 10 years ago.

In you will be able to read news about the entire world but very little local news. There is also very little local business news. In the business sections you are more than likely to hear about multinational corporations and aid donations but not about business houses. When a leading local chain grows phenomenally, Pakistani news does not cover it or analyze the reasons for success. This is a small example of how weak Pakistani institution is—like a set for a movie, they are there but not so functional.

Pakistani tends to look externally at what the world thinks of . Editorial opinions range from conspiracy theories to a sense of failure arising from the deep fascination with what the world thinks of or its President. Quite amazingly, you can find some excellent analysis, wonderfully erudite editorials, deeply thought out opinion pieces in the newspapers on a regular basis.

But all in all, going by the , instead of the guy in the burnt hut being your general conscience, your conscience seems to be what the world thinks of you. But Pakistanis are generous donors and very charitable people. The local mosques have free and people donate Zakat generously however tax evasion is very common. For the earthquake, people burst the bank donating. And the world gave a lot of money. The fact that so many people gave so much is recognized yet there is a general complaint of how other disasters got more money (again, the same paranoia around what does the world think of me and why didn’t it give more money to us?). Some people feel that the rest of the world does not respect or empathize with . Is that really fair on the world or even true? This internalized comparison with the rest of the world seems to be a typical trend. Criticism is good, but self-flagellation is a part of the national character that points to another issue.

This self-flagellation is because of a conflict in . The disconnect between Black and White is profound. Some people have tried to describe this—they have called it the brown sahib syndrome or the english vs. urdu speaking people syndrome. But, neither concept is sufficient. This disconnect is really about the two countries in . ‘Black ’ is made-up of largely voiceless and unknown personalities. They are categorized as Black simply because their agenda is hidden. It is unclear what they want. Apart from some religious rhetoric, one is left guessing about who these people are or what they want. These unknown voices emerge only as unexplained violence and crime. We’d get the hint, but they don’t really tell us what they want. They seem to really just want to blow up people. This country, like elsewhere in history (e.g., USSR) is better known outside than inside .

At headline moments usually goes into denial, starts and aborts definitive action of the kind the rest of the world wants to see (e.g., it tempers extreme opinion and rhetoric instead of changing legislation) while it worries about whether New York Times writes well about , and world opinion. Interestingly, is so well habituated in this cycle that the first reaction to the earthquake was ‘all is well, under control’.

’s two worlds are reflected in public and private life both in and abroad. Even though a perpetual exists in , White cares deeply about the that it encounters in the world. It is one thing to criticize oneself, but quite another when Tinku Vhatever does it in Washington Post, under banner of ostensibly speaking for the modern world. Pakistanis are usually impressed when they abroad that the world does not really care much about the local Pakistani phobias of clothes, accent or class. In the marketplace of the global world, what seems to matter is an individual’s competence in getting things done and marketability. Pakistanis abroad generally blend in however many wear local dress. From jeans to hair coverings to shalwar suits Pakistanis come in all packages. But, Pakistanis feel that one cannot take too many chances on wearing the ‘Muslim’ in the West. It is best to blend in. Also, it is thought best to answer the question, ‘So, where are you from?’ with prevarication and care. You have to make sure you put across the subtle differences and that your speech conveys that you are a worker of Pakistani origin and not ‘Pakistani.’ American’s have the shortest attention spans in the whole world, but are very alert to body , so you should ideally do this with a slow blink, a slightly twisted grimace and a very nonchalant shrug. Your expression and body is key. It has to convey the right amount of indifference yet have direct eye contact.

The professionally trained Pakistani is a paradox of gray. He or she is lately in heightened conflict between the two identities of Black Pakistani and White Pakistani. On one hand He/She is convinced that the only way for to be successful is to blend in with the modern rather than to live by a pre-modern code of life. (Translate: Mukhtaran Mai good, rapists bad or US people good, Bush bad). The professional knows that money comes via very simple principles that don’t really care about who you pray to or your natural assets. Frankly, the professional likes the marketplace of the global world and wants a part of the material wealth and success on the bandwagon of . is a consumption loving society that absorbs foreign influences easily (black or white). Even though it may seem contradictory, since 95% of Pakistanis are strong believers in and is firmly rooted emotionally in a deep awe and fear of , the Muslim world are mostly -oriented travelers who to spend. In fact accumulating wealth is considered a bad thing to do because we will all die. (And that too way before Keynes.)

Most Pakistani cosmopolitan types are also quite attached to their Pakistani and accord high priority for the next generation to speak fluent Urdu, to know the basic tenets of and to dedicate a small corner of their hearts as permanently Muslim and/or Pakistani. The Pakistani worker has the same dreams as anyone in the world. He wants a big house, a car or cars, nice bi-cultural clothes, access to open , the right to listen to , foreign and trips abroad.

Most Pakistanis feel that the world doesn’t like Muslims and Pakistanis. Pakistanis even avoid mentioning their national in public abroad. White Pakistanis will tell you they are Pakistani after a flick to the side and a shoulder check.

The professional is outraged and afraid that the Pakistani will be seen as a stigma, and somewhat neurotically he is completely convinced that his Pakistani is a stigma. Pakistanis guess that it must be talk about Islamic extremism visavis Black and, the crazy stories of Daniel Pearl, of Taliban, of Karo kari and of in the . More recently, since all events must become assimilated in the general sense of discontent with the world, the lower earthquake donations are also seen suspiciously.


The professional Pakistani, uncomfortably characterized as gray, in the world polarity, is actually quite helpless to change Black either in or abroad. He is to his own eyes whiter than white and can’t get any whiter. But, somehow BBC will talk about the worst of and not anything else. They will speak of the not the absolutely amazing cotton that makes. They will speak of Butter Chicken but not the symphony of culinary delight that is Biryani. Perhaps the Pakistani forgets that it is not just them who write but they who provide the news. We are living in a PR world after all. But instead of reaching out, the has sunk into a neurosis; more and more people wonder is it a conspiracy after all and does the world after all care more about his black spots than him?

Examples of our internal conflict between the White and the Black are all over. For instance our concern over which day is. When it is time for and every mosque declares an alternate day as —when no one knows which day will be, we shake our heads and laugh that these crazy Mullahs should use to figure this out. December 25th is one day and here we have multiple Eids all over the world. We criticize as though Islamic rituals are not ours but something we suffer as a common problem. We view moon sighting as an ignorant practice, rather than a cultural artifact that persists in many parts of the world. Many call the multiple problem the failure of the Muslim world to unify. People propose a set day against the in Mecca/Medina. But why does tribal need to unify? Against what and for what?

Ok, so there is an internal conflict but is there a real conflict between the desires of the Black Pakistani and the White Pakistani? Isn’t it possible to be both successfully? Wear a Suit but use a Lota? Study Anthropology but pray to Allah? Isn’t it ok to work at Microsoft and bitch about the US invasion of ? To go along with colleagues to a bar yet not drink? Not to pray, yet to celebrate ? Do we have to test the fault lines, the deeper contradictions between Black and White ? Must we all become White? Or Black? Isn’t it ok to be gray?

Yesterday was . Proudly a fully covered up Muslim woman spoke of how the local mosque is so beautiful and exulted that it is ‘middle-eastern’ as if to say it is somehow genuine. A pause emerges. I see her speculating at my reaction to that word. She wonders which side of the Black and White divide I belong. My clothes signal White, yet I am here at and I am admiring the mosque. The mosque is beautifully designed with high ceilings and a style of unique to the Muslim world. But, ‘middle-eastern’ now why is that so cool? Because it is categorized as ‘Muslim.’ I don’t understand the respect that some Pakistani Muslims feel for as perhaps they cannot understand the ambiguity that I feel.

I notice subtle signals. The Imam insists on how open and welcoming Canada is to Muslims (The Imam is a psychotherapist deeply concerned that the sanctity of his allah is being destroyed by terrorists). Yet the mosque does not have a board saying that it is a mosque. Instead the board announces ‘Cultural Center.’ From inside it is a mosque, from outside a ‘cultural center.’ Black is graying. And isn’t white more grey than before?. Why are we so painfully aware of every allegiance and every loyalty?

And what of and the Pakistani ?

The Pakistani Govt. is from the White, of the White or so the world must think, even if it is black here and there. It has concluded that the big challenge to the progress of Pakistanis is its image, not its . It is keen to change the image of . It is a tough thing to do. Where should they start? Over the last few years, they have tried to give an alternative view of the Pakistani . Here are the terms one hears, ’moderate muslims’, ’the Indus Valley civilization’ ‘’s vision’ and even Ata Turk’s moderate . Meanwhile the hidden country is regularly discovered on the front-page headlines. ’s hidden country is a drafting ground for a different kind of . The for global power is fought with soldiers drafted from the that White knows little about. Every now and then the hidden country carries out a , pushes the LOC, bombs a public place abroad or gets a village to a woman for revenge. This hidden country, though little understood or analysed in Whiter , comes into the world ’s attention quite often. Black is an enemy of the World order, while White struggles to become one with the global World and conform to the unwritten rules of the World today. And even as it does so, it keeps its grayer leanings to itself, hidden from the world.

The is trying to make appear an attractive spot for business. It appeals to Pakistani immigrants to do business with . It has adopted computerized IDs to try and control aberrant Pakistanis. It even tried to regulate Madressahs and register them. The initial years of Musharraf were quite anti-black but now people aren’t that sure. I am guessing the of Musharraf has to keep both black and white sides happy enough to co-operate in achieving the objective. For now the strategy seems to be, ‘get money into ’ and toe the line. And only he, it seems, can play the subtle game of mixing Black and White enough to keep the delicate balance of intact.