Who are we? The Pakistani Identity Crisis.

12 Apr 2010

Dawn article about restoring/preserving historical sites:

“Identity is what distinguishes heritage from history. We can ignore, if not redo and delete, portions of our history that we choose not to like but we cannot avoid our heritage. It is, after all, what makes us what we are.”

So well said. For some reason this seems to me a succinct explanation of why say Pakistani monuments like the Badshahi Mosque (pictured below) aren’t as well known as say the Taj Mahal. Granted, there are some differences, but Pakistanis have been confused as to how to portray them. Is this Muslim architecture? Is this an Indian heritage? Is that something to be ashamed of. Personally, yes ,yes and no. Whichever the case, there’s no reason to be scared. As teh article puts it:

“Letting our roots wither at the altar of commercialisation is as dangerous as the idea of ignoring them due to their pre-Islamic origin.”

Things are still confusing for Pakistanis today. Voices like the above exist, but are lost in everything else.