Our Racism

....... i don`t know about the rest of them, but here is what khushal khan khattak said about his (and my) people about four hundred years ago ....

The dogs of the Mohmands are better than the Bangash,
Though the Mohmands themselves are a thousand times worse than the dogs.
The Warrakzais are the scavengers of the Afridis,
Though the Afridis, one and all, are but scavengers themselves.
This is the truth of the best of the dwellers in the land of Pathans,
Of those worse than these who would say that they were men?

...... look at afghanistan and the frontier today and then tell me he was wrong ..............sometimes it is okay to call a spade a spade (no pun intended) .........

Bravo Zia! I think we the Pakistanis are the racist people of all!
I remember my g`pa an ex-General`s words to him `Bloody Bangolis`
were the menace. He told me when the Pak Army used to caught
Bangolis they used to say ``We are Punzabi`s not Dogs`` !
I find that kinda funny but come again its bad. Racism is everywhere
in Pakistan, once i had an arguement with my principal and he told
me `your knowledge comes from the Yahoodi Books` and I was damned!
We can`t ever tolerate opposition and we tends to get frustrated. Remember
Salman Rushdie Episode? Well the Muslims made Salman Rushdie my
giving him extra importance the right way to counter his propoganda would
have been to write a book. We just can`t tolerate opposition. When I talk
of Isreal here people thinks `I am too american` and when I talk about
Arabs they call me a `Kafir` i dont get it? ....we are hypocrites so
we always blame on others. I was called a ``Hindus-Taura` in Islamabad!
and i ignored coz` such people should be ignored coz they just want
importance...!

Very dry!

I particularly like the phrase, `your gosht was more soup than anything``, which is now legendary among our fam...

so true, well said...

Zia Ahmed: In relating (for purposes of deploring, I am sure) the various ethnic slurs in Pakistan and deploring how panjabis are dhhagas and pathans are thugs, you forgot the most uncivilized ethnic slurs against your own people Let me complete the picture, therefore:

I most vehemently, condemn, deplore and slate the way you folks are referred to as tillears. I bet you dont look like a tillear at all. I also vociferously denounce how you would be referred to as a mattarwa by these damned northern barbarians. Not only that, I plan to write a whole article condemning jokes about the karachi bhayyas. This joke I found most offensive, for example: The UP fellow is slapped on the face. He says ``Bhayya, Ibkay Mar tow naani ka doodh yaad kara dooN ga``. The UP guy gets slapped on the other side of the face, and responds responds: ``Ibkay Maar to BataaooN ga``. And so forth.

I think you will join me in condemning this most reprehensible ethnic joke.

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``This joke I found most offensive, for example: The UP fellow is slapped on the face. He says ``Bhayya, Ibkay Mar tow naani ka doodh yaad kara dooN ga``. The UP guy gets slapped on the other side of the face, and responds responds: ``Ibkay Maar to BataaooN ga``. And so forth.
``

Isn`t that joke about Arabs these days?

So the East India Company army that conquered Punjab (& Lahore) in 1849 (& Muslim Daggas fought against them) had a lot of Poorbis. From then comes the rhyme:

hindustaani baRe mastaani (actually, it is prob another word that rhymes)
akaR akaR kar chalte haiN

do paise ka tel le kar
daaRhi moonch pe malte haiN

beevi boli paisa bhejo
bachche bhooke marte haiN

bolte haiN ke marne do
ham kaun si parva karte haiN

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...not to mention all the derogatory remarks against africans...it`s astonding, the narrowmindedness....

dullabhatti #8 Just as I most vigorously condemn such ethnic jokes about Zia sahib`s karachi people, I equally vehemently condemn application of this joke to the Arabs.

Also, I condemn that joke about the Arab tank that comes in one gear only, the reverse gear.
And the one about the Egyptian division that sees a lone Israeli soldier in the distance, and sends a company to fight him. And, as this most offensive joke goes, after an hour one Egyptian comes limping back and says ``It was a trap. There were TWO of them!.

If you or anyone else knows of any ethnic jokes, please post them so they may be vehemently condemned as well.

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Zia Ahmed: Great read. You wrote a lot of aspects that I also believe are true about our ``pure`` Pakistani society. Anti-``Yahoodi``-ism is the best, as if Pakistanis have become the world leaders in knowledge about Jews, their history, and all the `Jewish conspiracies` manifesting themselves everywhere.

Needless to say, you haven`t mentioned how living in mutli-ethnic communities in the US, Canada, and the UK, we don`t think twice about insulting ``chaptas`` and ``kaala kachras`` - yet decry when anyone foists dicrimination in our direction.

The hardest pill to swallow for Pakistanis is that we really don`t matter to the rest of the Muslim world. We sit there on a high horse thinking we`re the vanguards of this grand Muslim ummah, when the average Arab probably could give a crap less if India invaded Pakistan and annhilated everybody. We`ve turned into a nation of anti-Jews because we feel a ``kinship`` to the Palestinians. How many Arabs feel a kinship to Kashmiris? How many Arabs, Iranians, and Afghans are anti-Indian or anti-Hindu because of this conflict? The answer is a miniscule number.

Some day we`ll learn. Until then, no matter how educated we are - with each racist statement, we`re on the same level as a `white trash` redneck from the Appalachians.

Good article!

#6 tahmed

`referred to as a mattarwa by these damned northern barbarians` do you mean the Punjabi ppl, cause we are north of Sindh, if thats who you mean its seems hypocritical of you to condemn these jokes but speak of others in such a derogatory manner...

from all over India we ended up in Pakistan, Pakistan is a cultural mish mash of local ppl along with Indian origin ppl, South, North, East, West Indians came here in 1947, it is inevitable that there will be some kind of friction, however now we have all become (or should have become) Pakistani, and one of the many ways to rid ourselves of this racism is to look to the Pakistani identity. We should all still be very Punjabi, Bihari, Sindhi, Balochi waghera waghera, but realise that we are part of the same nation, and EQUALS in this nation just as (in theory at least) Indians are very Punjabi, Bihari, Sindhi, Balochi waghera waghera but realise that they are part of India, for the supposed greater good of everyone within the Indian union.

Your not giving one identity prominence over the other, just giving each identity its rightful place. As Punjabi, i could demand that we break away from Pakistan and join with Indian Punjab to become some kind of Punjabi nation, but that would be stupid, and unrealistic. It would make more sense to accept reality, make the best out of what we have and respect the nation and ALL its ppl, that now we find ourselves in.

Maybe we should stop being unhappy with the fact that we had to come here and mix with `others` and that the `others` should go back to where they came from i.e. India. Maybe we should remember that we all came here with the same majboori, and that the founding principle was EQUALITY FOR ALL. Maybe a secular Republic of Pakistan isn`t such a bad idea!