Qawwali and Sufi music in Pakistan

The qawwal is a singer or singing musician (in Arabic, “one who speaks well”) of the Chishti tradition of India and Pakistan. Qawwali is linked with the history of the Chishti Order, which was founded in Chisht, in Khurasan, and brought to the Indian subcontinent in the 12th century. Qawwali, from the Arabic word qual, meaning utterance, are the songs intended to stimulate religious ecstasy and trance. The qawwal voices the spiritual message of Sufism, a mystical extension of Islam.

Qawwali music has been developed from the inversion of Indian ragas: vocals and harmoniums are layered on top of rhythm. The vocals reach their greatest intensity when some of the singers take turns singing while the others are breathing. This creates the illusion that they are singing without taking a breath. The harmoniums too operates in a same way.

Qawwali developed as the major Sufi music genre through the careers of a number of prominent qawwals like Munshi Raziuddin, Baha-ud-din, Santoo Khan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s father, Fateh Ali Khan and uncle Mubarak Ali Khan, Aziz Mian, Sabri Brothers and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Qawwali had a healthy steady patronage from the shrines of Sufi saints which have large established followings who shower money on qawwals performing on various auspicious occasions.

One of the famous Sufi singer and often know as the Qawaal star , 'Pakistan's Pavarotti', Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Khan said: "When I sing for God, I feel myself in accord with God, and the house of God, Mecca, is right in front of me".

He had taken qawwali training from his father and other family elders of the Jullundhri qawwal family - was endowed with a keen sense of innovative composition and was lucky to be noticed by some of the leading experimental contemporary world musicians like Peter Gabriel who provided him the break that he needed. His musical experiments were frequently criticized by the contemporary purist qawwals who considered use of western instruments and the fusion experiments carried out by Nusrat somewhat blasphemous. His use of certain techniques of western polyphonic composition in his orchestration was also not supported by these quarters. He also brought to Pakistan some of the latest recording equipment and was always busy composing and recording in his studios. His strength also lay in complex use of rhythm, a wide knowledge of traditional range of raagas and a very sound intimate living knowledge of folk music which he used in some of his most well known compositions.

Khan was one of the truly great cross over artists who was able to bridge geographical, religious and cultural divides with his powerful voice and traditions.

Politics of “new provinces”

What is more hypocritical is the changing status of the political parties in Pakistan, who are presently seen playing electoral politics, by asking for creation of “new provinces”. Not that suddenly, the political class of Pakistan has become sensitive to the people’s problem, but that there is much more politics behind the step. No doubt that the idea of creating more provinces will help governance and it will address the issues of neglected parts of the country suffering from uneven development that has been taking places for over 60 years now. So then, what’s the fuss all about?

Feudally oppressed, deliberately kept underdeveloped and family owned, the areas which are expected to now to become new provinces are controlled by the very families that are leading the campaign for new provinces. For instance in Punjab, there are voices demanding it to be divided into three parts. There is one movement lead by erstwhile Nawab of Bahawalpur with Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani while the other is constructed by the Legharis of Dera Ghazi Khan. One similarity that unites the leadership of both these movements: their former status as the rulers of the areas they now want as “their provinces.” On the contrary, interestingly enough, those who fear a dominant Punjab and want more provinces out of it do not wish the same for gigantic Balochistan that is 43.6 per cent of Pakistan’s geography but only 5.3 per cent of its population, which is why it gets a lesser importance in front of Punjab, which constitutes 56% of Pakistan’s population.

Electoral politics behind the new promise:

The PML (N) – Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz group, has a strong foothold in Punjab, same is true for PML (Q) – Pakistan Muslim League, Quaid-e-Azam group, which has vote bank in rural areas of Sindh and Punjab, PPP- Pakistan People’s Party and MQM-Muttahida Quami Movement have a hold in Sindh, PML (Q) and PPP have again a hold in Baluchistan.

Now this scenario is simple enough, there is a status quo in place and it works for most parties. If new provinces were to be carved out of the existing ones, it would mean loss of political might and seats.

Now let us se how the electoral politics are played through the new policy of creation of new provinces, for each of the existing one:

In case of Punjab: Punjab is like India’s UP; it has maximum number of seats in Pakistan’s National Assembly and constitutes 60% of the country’s population. Hence, the sheer numbers ensure that any party that can just manage to do well in Punjab will automatically do well nationally. Now when they talk about creating newer provinces from Punjab, what needs to be understood is that all of Punjab is not the same. South Punjab, better known as the Seraiki Belt, primarily is composed of the Seraiki community, and then there is the state of Bahawalpur, which was once a princely state. In the north, there is the Potohar Belt. Again they have their own language and are ethnic Potohari. Plus in the Center there is the GT Road Belt. Now in the present circumstances, PML-N does gain majority of votes from North and Central region. But the Southern Punjab area has a hold of PPP and PML-Q. So if new provinces were to be created, it would mean that South Punjab becomes two provinces, Central Punjab becomes one province and Potohar becomes another one. The idea that ‘if you win Punjab you can run Pakistan’ becomes redundant as the overpowering 60 per cent Punjab majority will now loss its ground. Politically, this works well for PPP and PML-Q who have new political power in the south, while leaving Potohar open. So, effectively PML-N gets relegated to Central Punjab and Northern Punjab, drastically losing political power and influence and which is why we see the reason that PML-N is not in favor of new provinces while PPP is pushing for it publicly.

In case of Sindh: Sindh if divided up in further provinces would probably end up with two units, one being Karachi-Hyderabad and the other being rest of Sindh. This means that the MQM takes one and PPP takes the other. For MQM this is good chance to consolidate their political hold as they get to run a whole province. But for PPP, this isn’t a great political favor happening on their part since, right now they run all of Sindh and have large amounts of resources at their disposal to still have a fighting chance of winning seats in Karachi. But if they agree to more provinces they will lose this advantage in terms of resources and power. This is why PPP, although talking of new provinces elsewhere, is not even mentioning provinces in context of Sindh.

In case of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: The Awami National Party sought to rename the province "Pakhtunkhwa", which translates to "Land of Pakhtuns" in the Pashto language. This was opposed by some of the non-Pashtuns, and especially by parties such as PML-N and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). The PML-N derives its support in the province from primarily non-Pashtun Hazara regions. In 2010 the announcement that the province would have a new name led to a wave of protests in the Hazara region. On April 15, 2010 Pakistan's senate officially named the province "Khyber Pakhtunkhwa"(KPK) - with 80 senators in favor and 12 opposed. The MMA, who until the elections of 2008 had a majority in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, had proposed "Afghania" as a compromise name. After the 2008 general election, the Awami National Party formed a coalition provincial government with the Pakistan Peoples Party. The Awami National Party has its strongholds in the Pashtun areas of Pakistan. Ever since KPK got its new name, there has been a vocal movement within the province to create a new province for the people of Hazara who felt left out because of ‘Hazara’ being left out of the name KPK. If, Hazara were to be made in to a separate province, it would be politically dominated by PML-N and PML-Q, who have consistently won in Haripur, Abbottabad and Hazara. Which is why, ANP and MMA are reluctant to back the call for a separate province, while PML-N and PML-Q are in favor over the creation of a new one as it tilts the political dynamics in their favor.

All in all, the creation of new provinces will change and bring about administrative efficiency and also it would reduce the influence of Punjab in Pakistani politics. The provinces have demanded more autonomy under the Eighteenth Amendment (of more provincial autonomy) will call for more resources from the Central government, which already is economically impoverished and politically unstable. There does lie in a better intention in idea of creation of more provinces but given the current economic and political conditions in Pakistan, the idea seems to be quite unrealistic and moreover it seems a mere political gimmick by the political class of the country only as to reassure and reaffirm their status quo and nothing else.

Perils of Ethnolinguism in Pakistan

Geographically, Pakistan is divided into four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP). Now each of these provinces is associated with a single ethno linguistic group, which dominates the population of that province. For instance, Punjab with Punjabis, Sindh with Sindhis, Baluchistan with Baluch and the NWFP with Pashtuns. The tribal population of the country is concentrated in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) and Azad Kashmir.

Since independence, Pakistan has witnessed partition along ethno linguistic lines. Such a movement was first seen during 1971, when Pakistan’s East wing, viz. East Pakistan, became the new independent state of Bangladesh. Post independence, statements by Pakistani leaders before and after 1970 stressed the importance of a strong center and critisized the idea of greater provincial autonomy. The loss of more than half of Pakistan’s population in 1971 did not alert the leadership of the dangers of ignoring the local nationalist sentiments. Pakistan’s ethnic and linguistic minorities often cite the founding document called the Lahore Resolution which ensures legitimizing the claims of these ethno linguistic groups for greater autonomy. The resolution does not include the word “federation”, but it does say that the independent state should have “constituent units” that would be “autonomous and sovereign.’’ On the other hand, the state leadership opposes the stance of ethnolinguism and considers it as a threat for the state.

After the separation of East Pakistan from Pakistan, there were other subnational movements too, claiming for a different/independent statehood, like, Sindhudesh, an independent Baluchistan, a NWFP tied to Afghanistan and even for Mojahirs, a different Karachi. Following are some of the sessionist movements that have happened in Pakistan:

Balawaristan : seeking to define a separate identity for Gilgit, Baltistan and Ladakh regions from that of the Kashmir Valley and Jammu; not recognized by either the Government of India, Pakistan and China. Separatists claim of human rights abuses by the Pakistani forces on the locals, which has also been reported to the UNO. Officially, the ethnic nationalist politicians of the Balawaristan support independence, but agree they are willing to stay part of Pakistan if given proper representation in the government.

Sindhudesh: Influenced by the separation of the province of East Pakistan, the Sindhi separatist movement began in 1972. Jeay Sindh Mahaz was the umbrella organization of several Sindhi separatist groups. Ghulam Murtaza Syed (G. M. Syed), a Sindhi separatist leader, wanted Sindh to become an independent Sindhudesh like the then newly formed Bangladesh. However, support for separatism amongst common Sindhi folk is lukewarm as shown by their voting preferences; of eight pro-separation parties, not a single one has been voted into power in Sindh to this day. The Jeay Sindh movement had abated by the mid-1970s but revives from time to time. Balochistan: The Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) separatist group was founded by Jumma Khan Marri in 1964 in Damascus, and played an important role in the 1968-1980 insurgency in Pakistani Balochistan and Iranian Balochistan. The BLF had support from Arab nationalists leaders from Iraq. Mir Hazar Ramkhani, the father of Jumma Khan Marri, took over the group in the 1980s. The Balochistan Liberation Army (also Baloch Liberation Army or Baluchistan Liberation army) (BLA) is a Baloch nationalist militant secessionist organization. The stated goals of the organization include the establishment of an independent state of Balochistan separate from Pakistan and Iran. The BLA has also claimed responsibility for the systematic ethnic genocide of Punjabis in Balochistan (about 500 as of July 2010) as well as blowing up of gas pipelines. In 2006, the BLA was declared to be a terrorist organization by the Pakistani and British governments.

Pashtun separatists: Pashtunistan is a proposed state for ethnic Pashtuns seeking to separate Pashtuns from Afghanistan and Pakistan. While the current insurgency in both Pakistan and Afghanistan is mostly centered in the Pashtunistan area, the movement is solely Islamist and not ethnic nationalist, wishing to make a state with Sharia law. Greater Afghanistan: Another Pashtun separatist movement proposes the separating of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by abolishing the Durand line, which proponents of this idea believe to be illegal, and returning what is now Pakhtunkhwa to Afghanistan which would mean creating a "Greater Afghanistan" resembling Afghanistan before the Durand agreement. Afghanistan still has not recognized the Durand line which remains a very controversial issue between the two countries.

Pakistan is a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual country. Unlike India, the leaders of Pakistan could not evolve a healthy democratic culture to solve the problems of its people. The leadership was not representative of people’s aspirations and though the leaders understood the plight of the regional groups for their discontent, they never did anything substantial in terms of policy making. As said, above, they have always asserted the importance of centralization. The other reason for the assertion of regional identities can be seen from the economic point of view. Economy is in doldrums in Pakistan. Apart from gross mismanagement by the ruling elite - the army - bureaucracy- landlord troika - the nuclear engagement with India has taken its toll. Economic growth has faltered and is now incapable of keeping pace with Pakistan's annual population growth rate of nearly 3%, from about 6% in the 1980s. Current military budget consumes roughly 40% of the gross national product. Much of the government spending goes on interest payment. After all this, the government does not have sufficient amount to meet with people's aspiration. The chief interest of the elite in this situation has been to maintain status quo, thereby only escalating the persisting peril of the problem.

Urdu, the national Language, regarded as a foreign language of Pakistan?

Urdu was made the National language of Pakistan immediately after its formation. It was made the primary lingua franca as it connected the various provinces of Pakistan in terms of communication. Yet, till date, despite enjoying the status of national language, many in the country regard it as a “foreign language’’ because it is not seen in tandem with the idea of Muslim nationhood.

Urdu was rejected as national language by the Bengalis (now the Bangladeshi’s) during the 1940s; similarly it was rejected by various other ethnic groups of Pakistan who have their own languages, like Punjabis, Sindhis, Pashtus, and Balochis. The main reason for it’s outright rejection for keeping it as a national language was because it was regarded as a language spoken by Muslims of North western India, pre- independence. It has been said that the Urdu language was formed from the combination of Persian and the Khari boli language (local dialect of north-western Indians). The fact that Urdu language is rooted in the Indian soil and served as a common heritage for Hindus and Muslims, pre- independence, regarding it as a national language, as a identity marker for the Muslim nationhood, was an idea not properly digested by the Pakistanis.

The speakers of Urdu language in Pakistan were migrants from Central India who came to Pakistan for religious reasons. Though the Quran is in Arabic language, there were hardly any people who were fluent in Arabic, which is why, it didn’t get the status of national language, and the rest of the population spoke in other local languages. The Muslim League headed by Jinnah, who had played the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan, was heavily dominated by Muslims who belonged from Central India and were hence Urdu speaking, which is what one of the reason is being told for Pakistan having adopted Urdu as its national language. One of the other reason for recognizing Urdu as a national language was because of the fact that since Pakistan has many languages, different for different provinces, declaring any one of them as national would lead to intra provincial conflicts.

The problem is that the national language is not spoken by more than 10-12% of the population. The religious language of the Pakistan is Arabic, which no body bothers to learn. The primary languages of the rest of the Pakistan have lost its meaning due to lack of provincial autonomy , the education on the primary language is meaningless, if they want to progress, they are suppose to learn Urdu, which half the population cannot speak, and speak and write English if they want to go abroad.

All in all, it is disturbing to know the fact that any language is adopted as a national language which is not representative of the country’s regional and cultural identities. It totally seems unfair, to regard the language of “Muhajirs” (Muslim refugees that fled from genocide from different parts of India during the Partition of 1947), Urdu, only as to promote the national unity of the country based on the idea of “Islamic Nationhood”. The main aim for adopting Urdu was promoting national integration and thereby strengthening ethnicity but at the same time, it threatens the cultural and linguistic diversity in the country.

Sufism under attack in Pakistan

Sufism also known as Tasawwuf is described as an aspect or dimension of Islam and not as a sect. In the words of Ibn Khaldun, 14^th century Arab historian, Sufism is, “ dedication to worship, total dedication to Allah most high, disregard for the finery and ornament of the world, abstinence from the pleasure, wealth and prestige sought by most men, and retiring from others to worship alone”.

Although a few in number, they have indeed played a greater role in shaping the Islamic thought and history. Some of the notable Sufi contributors in the field of literature are Rumi, Omar Khyyam, and Al- Ghazali’s. There were also notable one from the field of music, most famous till date being, Nusret Fateh Ali Khan.

Various Sufi shrines are worshipped by the followers of Islam. Every year, a few hundred thousand Sufis come in a town called Sehwan, in Sindh province of Pakistan in three day festival, marking the death of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, one who belonged to the cast of mystics who had consolidated Islam’s hold on this region. Today, Pakistan’s two most populous provinces of Sindh and Punjab is a home to most of the Sufi Shrines. The men who come there are seen wearing long loose clothes, seen dancing and drumming, standing in one place, with their hands in the air, chanting ‘'Qalandar”! This typical dancing is known as “Dhammal”.

In Sufism when saints died, their enshrined tombs attracted legions of followers. Sufis believed that their descendants, referred to as pirs, or "spiritual guides," inherited some of the saints' charisma and special access to Allah. Orthodox clerics, or mullahs, considered such beliefs heretical, a denial of Islam's basic creed: "There is no God but God, and Muhammad is his Prophet." While pirs encouraged their followers to engage Allah in a mystical sense and relish the beauty of the Koran's poetic aspects, the mullahs typically instructed their followers to memorize the Koran and study accounts of the Prophet's life, known collectively as the Hadith.

This is what differentiates the Sufi from Sunni and Shia sect. Fact that Pakistan is home to 80% of the Sunni population, which believes in preaching monotheism, the Sufi practices were not encouraged. Which is why, tensions grew between other Islamic sects and Sufis in Pakistan. Presently, the Pakistani Taliban has been alleged of terrorist attacks on these shrines located in Pakistan.

The singing, dancing and praying to the saints, is regarded as blasphemous by the militants groups, especially the ones belonging from the Wahabisim school of thought. The attacks are motivated by more than religious hatred and the militant groups behind these attacks are merely trying to inflame the sectarian tension in the country, further trying to destabilize and weaken the already fragile control of the government over the country.