CULTURAL IDENTITY OF PAKISTAN

A group of people who share the same attitude or the way of living forms a culture. Culture is the identity of a group of people living in any geographical area. It makes one community different from the other in terms of values, norms, customs, language, etc.

Every country or state has a number of religious and geographically different communities living in there. Each of the communities follow and share their own believes, norms, values and their culture. This variation in religion and geography makes a country culturally diverse. Cultural variations are good for a nation as it makes it colorful and attractive for people around the world eventually making the tourism rate higher.

Above all, a nation should have a cultural identity to be identified as a nation by other nation states.  A question that often comes to our mind is what is the cultural identity of Pakistan?

Like other countries, Pakistan is also a culturally diverse country. We have 5 provinces, each with different ethnic groups having different languages, believes, rituals and customs. If we go to Punjab, majority of the people living there speak Punjabi. Their men wear Tehmat and long Kurta and their women wear traditional Punjabi Shalwar suit. In Sindh a huge number of population speaks Sindhi as their cultural language. Sindhi men wear Shalwar Kameez or Kurta with Pajama whereas their women wear Shalwar Kameez or Sari. Province Khyber Pakhtun Khawa is again different from other two provinces in terms of language, rituals and customs. Pashtu is the language of the people living there. The men and women wear big flare froks.

Baluchistan and Gilgit Baltistan are not only different from each other but also they differ from other provinces as well. They both have different languages, norms, values, rituals and customs.

In light of the cultural differences of all provinces discussed above it would not be wrong to say that Pakistan has a very colorful and diverse culture. But above all it is very important for a nation to have a cultural identity so that it can be identified as a nation by other nation sates. Cultural identity of a nation not only gives its identification to others but also gives a sense of security to its nationals. Having a cultural identity strengthens a nation and helps it maintain unity among its people. When people are given a cultural identity, everyone will follow it and will own it, eventually this will inculcate a sense of unity among the people regardless of their province, ethnicity, language or believes. In the end, this unity will help the country to step forward with courage and strength on the path of national progress.

In Pakistan, we do not see any cultural identity. We speak a number of different languages like Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtu, Makrani, Saraike, etc. we all wear different dresses, we all are from different religious sects. There is nothing in common among us which can be declared as our identity. A very small fraction that is 8% of our nation speaks Urdu. Although Urdu is our national language yet majority of us speak it as second language or as third language. English is more close to our hearts because it is the official language of Pakistan.

So, to conclude, Pakistani nation has nothing in common to be called as cultural identity. The governing powers and the policy makers should take such steps to unite the nation on one thing. They should provide the nation with an element on which the whole nation, regardless of its cast, color, religious and provincial identity, should get united and practice it every time. Identifying the cultural identity would give the nation strength, courage and power to prosper as a nation.

Syeda Sameen Sarwat