Yea, we came from there BUT it was my great grandparents who made the migration along with their siblings and cousins so we kinda don't have any family which my generation would know of!...My parents were born in Pakistan and hence, am 2nd generation Pakistani
Yea, I was born in Karachi coz dad had a job there and mom lived there after marriage for a while and we (my siblings and I) were born
You are part of the usual trend in these families. Basically most of the children of those who moved have never even been to their ancestral places. So naturally most don't feel any link to ancestral regions nor that they are "Muhajir" which is another word for pilgrim-very insulting if you ask me.
I mean this itself reveals how stupid the Muhajir label is. But its like getting a tattoo on the bum from a very intimate tattooist friend and then breaking up. You want the tattoo gone but you can't get it erased. Gonna take time and lots of challenging the identity for it to break down.
Personally though having been outside I know most overseas Pakistanis don't give 2 hoots to these identities. At home they become an issue and the only way to challenge them is to first recognize they exist and then knowing their history.
Dude, you from Luckhnow? Are you a Zaidi? The ex-Nawab's family are very close friends of my parents. I am also on very good speaking terms with the ones who are in the US. If you are from that family, then I'm sure I know you!
Last I knew, they had very limited family members in Karachi.
Our family has extensive links with Zaidi's. You know the singer Ali Zaidi. I know him. I am afraid I do not know their exact history nor that of the Kidwai's either. My own family history is a different thing but there's is pretty different I guess. Zaidi's are like rich. They move out of Pakistan all the time... I don't think I know any Zaidi back home.
You probably think I am crazy with this Pashtun-mania and think of it as utter wannabe-ness!
In truth the issue with me is basically the links back in Lucknow don't let me exactly forget our family. For years I defended them vociferously... now even they don't want us to cauz they are largely integrating into the Indian fabric-for whatever reasons-survival or whatever. That u know was like a jolt. Time to look at how those who moved to Pakistan were acting and sorry to say they only acted like chauvinists... that nationalism with which my grandfather and my father crossed I couldn't find anywhere... it was there but u know obscured by MQM chauvinism. Started challenging that... and everything began there. I found bias against Pashtuns in the office, abuse of Sindhis, abuse of every other person and it had always been there but I was the one who had been ignoring it. What kind of Nationalist does not feel pain when his people are attacked?
Most other Pakistanis actually don't understand-one day I was talking to this left wing Ultra Nationalist guy I worked with and told him my folks came from Lucknow... got totally angry. "Why are you talking about India?" Gave me a long lecture. Even integrating as a Pashtun I can tell a lot of people don't want me to mention a word about a region that is now in India. Its basically like I am sticking my bum in both Pashtun affairs and "Muhajir" (such a fake identity our forefathers adopted when they came to Pakistan
) affairs and it gives a lot of people the chance to call me an idiot... but the thing is basically all those who moved are in simple terms very confused people. Everyone knows we were supposed to integrate or merge into the local communities and those in Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Punjab largely did.
But combined with these solid links to ancestral homes and 1000's of years of history in Lucknow, Bihar, Deccan and many other places, then the massive settlement in Karachi confused them which led to the wider Muhajir identity developing though its failure is proven on many fronts. Still it became an identity... and after 47 came our downfall, we gained everything in Pakistan, made a position where we are at the top... but our family failed to be good Pakistanis in many ways, migrants became a part of ethnic tensions, played a part in the issues that surrounded us and refused to look at anything with anyone else's eyes (any other communities, I mean).
But people don't understand what these areas were before and how they were bastions of the Muslim League, how even many years after partition and their fate sealed by Ayub Khan's closure of the border our Ansari and other families left there continued supporting Pakistan. In fact it was said for what the Indians called UP that not a single Muslim household voted for anyone other than Quaid E Azam until he was alive and anyone can research this to find out it was true. Upto late 1980's everyone supported Pakistan.
We were the ones who failed to reach out to them... think how big of an advantage these guys could be to the Pakistani cause in any war, any fight with India. My maternal grandfather died in the expectation someone would call him to Pakistan, but all relatives in Pakistan were trying to settle themselves. My paternal grandfather went around on a cycle himself. But my maternal grandfather did marry almost every one of his daughters to relatives in Pakistan. This was their loyalty. Even now we have some older relatives and even distant ones in Hyderabad, Deccan supporting Pakistan because of some issues there. I identified with them and supported them for long-but then what about home? What about Karachi? What about how we guys behaved after 1947?
My opponents (there are many because I never let the Luffy's go) and just tell me I am a confused person and have an identity crisis. Maybe they are right. But all that movement from one place to another rots a persons head.
**** did I write another essay?
