Stereotyping Pakhtuns

 

Written by N Yousufzai

The lady holding my résumé looked at my attire or perhaps at me from head to toe –she spent a few more minutes on my résumé and then surprisingly asked, “Are you sure – you are a Pakhtun?” I smiled and nodded. She asked me the same question a few more times before she started my job interview. After the interview, she announced: “we are pleased to offer you the job.” Then the charming lady asked me if I wanted to join her on lunch as she was going to cafeteria? I agreed, because I did not want to sound rude on a job interview and secondly, I wanted to know what surprised her on seeing a Pakhtun woman.

Over the lunch, before I could ask anything she started herself that she was from Faisalabad in Punjab, Pakistan, and that she had never met a Pakhtun before. But she had heard a thousand “terrible stories” about the Pakhtuns. Astonished at the word “terrible,” I asked, “Would you mind telling me the details of those terrible stories?” She smiled and said, “Don’t take me wrong but I have always heard that Pakhtun women are not like us, I mean independent and educated, but when my friend referred you for this job, he did not mention your ethnic background but spoke very high of you.”  I was still waiting for the terrible stories she had heard. She continued: “So Pashtun are very rigid people, they kill their woman if they refuse anything against the will of their male?”

She looked at me for confirmation, or at least for a reply. I told her I did not want to say much but some of my female cousins and I had been abroad for education on our own.

Obviously that wasn’t the first time I have left people astonished after telling them that I am a Pakhtun and studying abroad on my own. The image that Pakhtuns have in parts of Pakistan and in neighboring countries—even abroad—is not positive. Besides being considered rigid and callous, we are also labeled as foolish, who out of their foolishness are too much hospitable and trusting.

Pakhtun- best part of the “comedy business”

There has been a sustained campaign against the Pakhtuns stereotyping them in the representational media such as television dramas, advertisements, and entertainment programs. Now, the stereotypes have become so deep-rooted that the young generation is taking it as given. The example of such stereotyping piece of work was recently witnessed in the advertisement of a popular Pakistani mobile network U-fone. I was surprised to know that the artists who directed and performed in the ad were all graduates of one of the top art schools of Pakistan, National College of the Arts (NCA).  Also, some of the most popular comedians such as Omar Sharif and Shakil are famous for cracking up audience with their “Pathan” and  “Khans” jokes. Bushra Ansari, the famous TV artist, who currently is a judge in a talent show Pakistani Idol, said in her remarks about Peshawar, “I know a little bit of Pashto too: topak zama qanoon (gun is my law).

Same comments but from a different ethnicity make a difference?

Famous celebrity Junaid Jamshed’s misogynist comments did not make any headline when he in a popular morning show on TV suggested that a wise man would never let his wife drive. The notorious politician Sheikh Rashid commented on a question regarding marriage, “why to bother buying a cow when milk is available for free in the market!” In their case, their ethnicity was never even mentioned, while in the case of cricket star Shahid Afridi's misogynist comments, his Pakhtun ethnicity stood out more than his words. His comments went viral and every second person on social media linked his words to his ethnicity.

Pakistan will own some Pakhtuns and leave others.

We see in media headlines that a “Taliban commander from a "Pashtun tribe" was killed in a drone strike;” in the same bulletin we watch that "a Pakistani girl", Malala Yousufzai,has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. But the one who died a violent death after a bloody stint in terrorism is lionized, while the schoolgirl who stood against extremism and terrorism is demonized. This is so because a violent and uncouth Hakimullah Masud fits in the stereotyped image of his tribe is acceptable, but a remarkable Malala, who defies the deep-rooted negative characteristics associated with Pakhtuns, is vilified as the ‘Other.’

Your Urdu accent is “hilarious”

Last but not the least, our accent is constantly targeted as well. Our Pashto-ish Urdu is copied and laughed at. First they declared the non-indigenous Urdu, a national language and now they have a problem with my accent because I can’t pronounce the little “h” like they do. For example, it comes out 'Pataan' when I want to say 'Pathan.'-I have even heard people criticizing the well-known journalist Salim Safi for his accent on Geo Television

The racist and sexist jokes irritates me and should irritate everyone, let’s stop being victim of discrimination, raise the awareness and let the harasser know what you feel about it. The stereotypes and harassment has to stop; the media and educated youth of Pakistan will have to take the responsibility and counter any kind of racial harassment and discrimination

Stereotyping is dangerous and it has real life implications. Stereotypes, as well-known cultural theorist Stuart Hall notes, reduce a people to simplified and exaggerated characteristics. Through stereotypes, it is implied that everything that is necessary to know about a people can be known by referring to the traits of the stereotypes. Thus, Shahid Afridi is to be known by the traits associated with his nation or tribe and not by his individual human characteristics. Stereotypes are reductive in nature by declaring: “this is what you are, and this is all you are.”

By stereotyping Pakhtuns as foolhardy and violent, they are denied the attributes of the cultured and the sophisticated. Thus, they become unfit for being taken seriously as a nation that, like any other nation, is equally creative, artistic, and humane. They never get this representation in the Pakistani media, because it does not fit in their stereotyped image. This is how power is exercised to control Pakhtuns through exclusion from the center of power.

source: http://www.pashtunwomenvp.com/index.php/2013-01-28-03-21-27/social/434-stereotyping-pakhtuns