In different cultures, one or more groups have been chosen to be the butt of all jokes related to dumbness and stupidity. In US and Europe, that group is the blondes; in India, it is the Sardars; and in Pakistan, it is the Pathans.
It is a painful experience to see our countrymen actively making jokes against Pathans and propagating them everywhere - in real life, through text messages, through emails, through forums, through Facebook and practically everywhere on the internet. Now there are thousands and thousands of jokes everywhere, and this is hurting the feelings of our fellow Pathans.
And that's not all, the people telling these jokes expect that anyone, including the Pathans themselves, should not be offended by those jokes, saying "they're just jokes!"
As you would expect, the Pathans are now hardly taking a stand against these jokes. They have given up against huge number of people telling these jokes, which is a very sad fact.
What we should realize as humans:
We all have our feelings and expect people to take care of them at all times, so isn't it also necessary for us to take care of feelings of others?
Imagine everyone making fun of you through every possible mean; wouldn't that hurt you, make you feel inferior, make you HATE the people telling those jokes?
The jokes regarding Pathans are also doing the same - and it is a moral responsibility to put an end to it.
What we should realize as Muslims:
As Muslims too, we are entitled to respect people of all races and treat them as equals. Islam has laid much stress on manners and respect, and all Muslims are brothers in Islam. As good Muslims, it's our responsibility to not make fun of our fellow Muslims. There are many ayaat and ahadith that teach us to be nice to all the Muslims and the people, e.g.
Abdullah b. Umar said that the Prophet of Allah said:
"The Muslim is he from whose tongue and hand, a Muslim is safe, and the muhajir he who gives up what Allah has prohibited for him." (Bukhari, Muslim)
What we should realize as Pakistanis:
As Pakistanis, we should realize that such jokes are causing serious harm to our unity and strength. We need unity more than ever in our present crisis, yet instead of doing something for our unity, we just make jokes on pathans and shun any efforts of unity! Without unity, our falling nation will fall still further, but united we could help it rise!
If we take a few moments to think about it, we shall see that the Pathans, as good Pakistanis, have done a lot for our nation; and we should respect them for it.
THE ABSOLUTE VERDICT:
The jokes on Pathans have done a lot of damage to our nation. We have kindled hatred in their hearts and have shattered our national unity by baseless racism. It isn't surprising that some Pathans have grown to hate Punjabis and that some even seek separation.
We have to stop now before it's too late.. ! And here's how to do it:
1. Replace hate for love - If you made jokes against Pathans DIRECTLY, you have caused the most damage, so seek out those Pathans and tell them that you've changed and offer them an apology. This would help soften their hearts and create brotherhood again.
2. Stop propagating jokes about Pathans. (If you wanna joke desperately and don't want to waste the joke at any rate, make sure you don't do anymore damage by sending it as a Pathan joke. Just swap the word Pathan for Sardar/Dumb. Also note: We do not encourage any joke against any group, but if asking for complete stoppage hinders the practical application of our message, then we won't feel guilty asking you to use this alternative).
3. Discourage anyone whom you see propagating Pathan jokes, and provide the same awareness to them.
I hope and pray that our nation will once again follow the words of Muhammad Ali Jinnah (12 March, 1958, Dhaka):
"I want that you should not think of yourselves as Sindhi, Balochi, Punjabi, Pathan or Bengali. There's no use in calling ourselves Punjabi, Sindhi or Pathan; we are just Muslims"
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