Mustansar Hussain Tarar’s Punjabi-ism, Hatred for Urdu and Pakistan

Renowned author and anchor Mustansar Hussain Tarar, while addressing the 3-day Punjabi conference in Lahore, expressed extreme hatred for Urdu. He said whenever somebody meets me, I tell him to speak to me in Punjabi instead of Urdu. He said people ask for reasons for speaking Punjabi when I write excellent Urdu novels and speak Urdu on TV as well. I speak Urdu for livelihood. If you pay me to speak Urdu, I can speak the language; otherwise, I will speak only Punjabi. He said “Urduwallas call themselves a part of Ganga Jamuna Tehzeeb, but I have never seen either the Ganges or the Yamuna properly. I have seen only Chenab of Heer.” (Dawn Karachi, 21 December 2023)

The Holy Quran, the Criterion Guidance, which is the book of guidance and revolution for Muslims all over the world, clearly tells Muslims to hold firmly onto Allah’s rope and not divide among themselves – neither over color nor race nor language. But unfortunately, a large number of Muslims are afflicted by divisions over color, race, and language. In his last sermon, the Prophet (PBUH) said no Arab has superiority over a non-Arab, and no white over a black – superiority is only in righteousness and knowledge. There is a famous incident from the blessed life of the Prophet (PBUH) that once in Medina, a fight broke out between a Muhajir and an Ansar. In the fight, the Ansar called out to other Ansars for support while the Muhajir summoned the support of Muhajirs. When the Prophet (PBUH) found out about this, his blessed face turned red with anger. He said I have saved you from the pits of prejudice and you are going back into the same pits.

As far as Pakistan is concerned, it came into existence on the basis of Islam, not Punjabi-ism, Sindhi-ism, Pakhtun-ism, Muhajir-ism, or Balochi-ism. Iqbal is the Ideologue of Pakistan and he has clearly stated:

بتانِ رنگ و خوں کو توڑ کر ملت میں گم ہوجا
نہ تورانی رہے باقی نہ ایرانی نہ افغانی

Break the idols of color and blood and disappear into the Muslim nation
Neither Turanian remain, nor Iranian, nor Afghan

But Mustansar Hussain Tarar while sitting in Iqbal’s Lahore is raising the flag of “Punjabi-ism” against Urdu. Urdu is a miracle in the history of languages. Languages evolve over thousands of years of cultural process but Urdu does not have a history of more than 500 years. In fact, the solid identity of Urdu is only 300 years old. Importantly, Urdu was created at a time that is called the “age of decline” of Muslims in the Subcontinent. It can be estimated that the nation which could create such a magnificent language even in its age of decline, what could it not have achieved in its golden age!

But the most crucial point about Urdu is that in just 300 years, it has emerged as the greatest language of Islamic literature, head and shoulders above the rest. In this regard,  forget Punjabi, not even Arabic, or Persian can compete with Urdu. The biggest proof of this is that in the last 200 years, Urdu has created such a great tradition of Quranic exegesis that it has no parallel anywhere else. In the last 200 years, some 25-30 major exegeses have been written in Urdu. In 200 years, Urdu has given life to the tradition of Hadith sciences in the Subcontinent. In the last 200 years, so much work has been done on the biography of the Prophet (PBUH) in Urdu that books like “Seerat un Nabi” by Shibli Nomani do not exist in other languages of the subcontinent or even in Arabic and Persian. The way Urdu has preserved and promoted the tradition of Islamic jurisprudence in the Subcontinent has no precedent. From this perspective, the religious languages of the Muslim Ummah are only three – Arabic, Persian, and Urdu.

One aspect of the greatness of Urdu is that in the last 300 years, by creating an ocean of poetry, it has shown what it is capable of. This poetry contains great masters like Mir, Ghalib and Iqbal, dozens of second-tier poets, thousands of third-tier poets, and hundreds of thousands of ordinary poets. In the sphere of free verse poetry, Urdu has given birth to poets like Noon Meem Rashid, Faiz, Meeraji, Akhtar ul Iman and Aziz Hamid Madni. Urdu has also created a witty poet like Akbar Allahabadi. Akbar’s greatness can be estimated from the fact that Iqbal said to Akbar’s son at Akbar’s death that your father was such a great poet that there is no parallel to him in the whole of Asia.

Urdu has also achieved excellence in prose. It has gifted a great novel writer like Qurratulain Hyder. Her novels “Aag Ka Darya” and “Gardish-e- Rang-e-Chaman” are among the greatest novels of the 20th century. Urdu has gifted short story writers like Munshi Premchand, Bedi, Manto, Ghulam Abbas, Krishan Chander, and Intizar Hussain to the world. Urdu has gifted critics of stature like Hasan Askari, Saleem Ahmed, Kaleemuddin Ahmad, Shamsur Rahman Faruqi, and Wazir Agha. Among these critics, Askari Sahib commands such respect that his ten best essays can be presented against the ten essays of any critic in the world.

Urdu has also created great humorists like Mushtaq Yusufi who can stand alongside anyone at the global level in the field of humor and satire. The 100-year-old Indian film industry stands completely in the shadow of Urdu. If India has created 5,000 important film songs in the last hundred years, 4,500 of them are in Urdu. If this film industry has produced 100 big films in 100 years, then 90 percent of the dialogues of these 100 big films are in Urdu. In Pakistan, Urdu has given birth to great teledrama. The biggest name of these dramas is Ashfaq Ahmed. He has dozens of dramas and serials that can be proudly presented globally.

As far as Pakistan is concerned, it was created by two things – Islam and Urdu. Without Islam, there would have been no Pakistan. Similarly, without Urdu, there would be no Pakistan. Unfortunately, Mustansar Hussain Tarar has expressed hatred for the very language that created Pakistan, which means he is essentially against Pakistan and its founding ideology.

All languages are signs of Allah. Therefore, no Muslim can speak against any language. Just as Urdu is a sign from Allah, so is Punjabi. However, there is a difference between big and small signs. Undoubtedly, Urdu is an ocean while Punjabi is merely a lake compared to it. Iqbal was the greatest poet of the 20th century but he only composed poetry in Urdu and Persian. Despite being a Punjabi he did not write a single verse in Punjabi. Noon Meem Rashid is considered the greatest poet of free verse, he was also Punjabi, but he too made Urdu his medium of expression, and did not write even a single poem in Punjabi. Faiz was also a Punjabi but he only wrote one poem in Punjabi. The biggest name in Urdu short story is Rajinder Singh Bedi. Bedi was also a Punjabi but he wrote short stories in Urdu. He did not adopt Punjabi as the medium of his art. Manto is the second major name in Urdu short stories. He too was Punjabi but did not write anything in Punjabi. Islamic history tells us the centers of Islam kept changing over time. There was a time when the center of Islam was Mecca. Then it became Medina. A time came when Baghdad and Delhi became the centers of Islam. Urdu also has the shadow of Islam. Accordingly, its centers have also changed. There was a time when Delhi and Uttar Pradesh were the centers of Urdu. Then came a time when Hyderabad, Deccan, rose as the center of Urdu. After the creation of Pakistan, Punjab emerged as the largest center of Urdu. In the post-independence period or after the founding of Pakistan, if we count fifty big names of Urdu literature, 25 of them will be from Punjab. Despite this, Mustansar Hussain Tarar while sitting in the heart of Punjab is spewing venom against Urdu.

Surely in the Pakistan of generals, Nawaz Sharifs, and Zardaris, everything is expected.