The question of being a Pashtun and a Pakistani and the Punjabi privilege

--I am a Pakistani. I consider Pakistan to be my political identity. I am neither proud of it nor ashamed of it. It is just a fact of the era that we live in. But at the same time I don't give a damn about proving my loyalty or patriotism to anyone. I believe that the nations living in Pakistan are capable of delineating a shared future and I want to be part of that future.

--I am neither proud nor ashamed of being a Pashtun. But being a Pashtun is my existential identity in the way that I can no more be a Pakistani and even anyone can no more belong to a religion, everyone will share for life their ethno-linguistic and cultural identity. The state structure should accept my distinct ethno-linguistic and cultural identity and shouldn't force upon me a false and constructed identity of Pakistaniat.

--There is a Punjab privilege in Pakistan. The whole state structure and distribution of largess and rights circle around Punjab. See the doctrine of strategic core and strategic periphery which considers Punjab or parts of Punjab to be the core to be defended at the cost of the periphery. All the development since the inception of the state is focused on those areas. Also, what I mean by Punjab privilege in this era is the sanctity and security of life. If there is a blast in Punjab the whole state machinery will come into action while people on the periphery will be dying and there will be only condemnation or even rationalization of the terrorism.

--With the point above is related the reality of racial profiling and racism. Having accumulated all the industry and development in few areas and wrecking havoc in the 'peripheries' we, the Pashtuns, are forced to migrate there for work and in there we face humiliations in the form of profiling by the government, stereotyping by the larger structure of the state and racism from the power structure.

--But seeing the Punjab privilege doesn't make every Punjabi or everyone belonging to Punjab to be complicit in the oppression, discrimination and racism. Racism and oppression are inherent parts of the state structure and they don't come with 'consent' or with active participation. Privilege is some advantage you are blessed with because of your identity and it can either be gained or it can be by virtue of the structure that you are part of.

--Let's take the case of privilege of Pakistanis over that of Afghans and Bengalis (then east Pakistanis). The state of Pakistan was as oppressive or even more to the Bengalis as it is to us and it has imposed a war on the Afghans. We are suffering at the hands of the Pakistani state too but for Afghans and previously for Bengalis we are part of the oppressive Pakistani state structure. And all of us had privilege over the life of a Bengali and now the Afghans perceive us to be same Pakistanis. Does it make us, the Pashtuns, to be complicit in the killing of millions of Bengalis and millions of Afghans?