By Maryam Mansoor

Racism in Pakistan on the basis of caste and colour

Racism is a concept we think belongs to west. Whenever we hear the term Racism; the first thing that comes in our minds is that it would be a rift between black and white not realizing that this term has a broad meaning. When we talk about discrimination in Pakistan, it actually exists we cannot deny this fact but Pakistani people are still in the state of denial. They think that racism is a problem only in west where white discriminates against black but I personally believe that racism prevails in our society since the very beginning when east Bengalis were mocked due to their black colours and short heights. The attitude of West Pakistan towards their fellow Muslim brothers in the East Pakistan was unfriendly and ruling elite showed contempt for Bangla speaking fellow citizens. Even though both of them were from the same Indian heritage, West Pakistani elite decided that they were superior as a nation and race compared to their fellow brothers and sisters from East Pakistan; they thought that their language was more noteworthy than Bangla; they felt their culture was more refined and sophisticated. Their attitude demonstrated that they had the divine right to rule. There was institutional racism and Bangla speaking community was at the receiving end of this rotten cultural and political discrimination that finally led to the separation of East and West Pakistan.

One thing that I want to clear is that the distinction between the term racial discrimination and ethnicity discrimination is very much vague and they are considered almost the same thing. One of the reasons why racism is not considered an issue in Pakistan is because this type of thinking is very much present in the psyches of the people and they discriminate without even realizing.

Caste system in Pakistan has been a mean of systematic discrimination. We have made our so called standards of high caste systems like Arian, Rajput’s, Chaudharis etc. who are considered nobles of our society and the lower castes majority of which are christens here in Pakistan are called Massalis, Choorahs, Chamars or Changars. They are considered ‘untouchables’ and are hired to do the most demeaning chores like gutter cleaning, toilet cleaning etc. If hired in the offices it is an unwritten rule that they will not be allowed to share the same cutlery used by their Muslim counterparts and neither will they be allowed to prepare and serve tea or food to their Muslim co-workers.

Religious intolerance is considered to be one of the biggest reasons of discrimination here in Pakistan. Muslims here think just because they are Muslims, they are superiors to non-muslim minorities, that it’s ok to laugh at them and it’s alright to call them Choorahs because that’ who they are not realizing that they also have self-respect but the roots of this type of thinking are so strong that we do not even realize that we are demeaning an individual just because of his colour or his caste. In Punjab and Sindh it includes discrimination against the scheduled Hindu castes that serve as farm workers and bonded labourers. They are not given equal rights; they are not even considered humans. The inequality is so severe and deeply embedded in parts of the country that it is hardly even noticed.

The question now is why are we unable to grow out of this discriminatory mind-set and look beyond the colour of a person’s skin? The answer partly lies in the portrayal of beauty in our media. There are many Pakistani ads like that of Fair and lovely ad, Faiza beauty cream ad promoting fair complexion and associating black colour with ugliness and unsuccessfulness, songs like ‘Goray rang ka zamana kabhi hou ga na purana’ and films that advocate the merits of having a fair-complexion. Even corporations are instilling and reinforcing this discriminatory thinking in our minds by promoting beauty products and creams aimed at making the skin fairer. My question is why do we judge beauty on the level of fairness? Why are we so obsessed with white colour and discriminate others on the basis of their dark skin and caste.

 We need to grow out of this discriminatory mind-set which will be possible only when we address discrimination as an issue because every problem first needs to be diagnosed to be treated.