A Place called Pakistan.

[Saiyan0321]

It would be unfair to talk about Pakistan and not include Sufism in it for Sufis are the central part of Pakistan and its history. @Kaptaan have you heard of Shah Inayat Shaheed of Sindh. He was a legendary Sindhi figure and is considered as one of the greatest Sufis of Sindh (Sindh and Multan have so many great Sufis, that such a title seems wrong to begin with). You will love the fact that the man was a revolutionary as well that wanted to wrest the land of Sindh from the influence of Mughal Empire. Now this has been up for argument for some time.

We have an ideal that he wished to free sindh from Mughal Empire especially the dystopian and weakened Mughal Empire of 1718 of Mughal King Farukhsayyar. This was the lineages post the Great Mughal king eras which ended 1707.

We have another argument that his attempt was to largely free itself from the clutches of Delhi centered rulers which had, through one way or the other ruled the regions East of Indus and drew their power from their.

The most prevalent thought is that his attempt was one of the earliest movements to break away from the feudal nature of Sindh and the extremely extremely ruthless control of the land lords.

He started a Social reform movement where he led the poor, the destitute and the farmers against the landlords, the mullahs and the Mughal king himself and in that movement, the state massacred over 25000 people. His slogan "Jo Kherray So Khaye" i.e He who Plows, should eat the yield". Farming yield and the tax on it was one of the backbones of the Mughal Economy (Which is a topic for another Time).

A story, i have heard since long, when he was with his murshid, Qadir Jilani, i think, The murshid placed four things infront of his graduated student, who was going back to sindh.
A prayer mat
A tasbeeh
A Karaah
A sword.

Shah Inayat grabs the sword. The murshid asks him as to what price will you pay for this. He answers my head. Inspiring stuff.

He fought the classes by dividing his own family land amongst the peasantries and doing collective farming. He built a mosque near that land and preached against the landlords and the orthodox mullahs, who already hated the sufis. After the massacre and his arrest, he was executed. He is recorded to have told the executioner that for freeing him from the chains of life and having him meet God, he gives his blessings to the executioner. The executioner is said to have cried after the execution.


So one of the many central figures of Sufism in Pakistan, his legend is echoed all over Pakistan to this day. Let me post a video about him by Lok Virsa

 

[Kaptaan]

 

[Nilgiri]

I know Pakistan is a terrific country blessed with fabulous landscapes, great people, grand history and could easily world class tourist industry earning billions. Last year as I was driving along the stunning M-15 I thought this country is actually eats the hell out of most European countries as a tourist destination. And this comes from a person who has been across most of Europe.

 

[Ardabas34]

I remember watching the TRT video. I really like the landscapes of Pakistan. Also the village weddings are strikingly familiar to ours with the drums and zurnas.

 

[Kaptaan]

I remember watching the TRT video. I really like the landscapes of Pakistan. Also the village weddings are strikingly familiar to ours with the drums and zurnas.

In some ways we are like Turks. Pakistan is product of crashing plates of earth and historical waves. From west, from east, from north they all collided here. Eurasia, Middle East, South Asia mashup here. Thus our landscapes change vastly along 1,000 miles axis. From glaciers, to high alpine mountains, to temperate hills, to semi-tropical plains to deserts. Along with this is a mixed history that has seen Scythians, Persians, Greeks, Kushans, Turks etc roll through.

All this makes for a varied landscape to varied people. In fact in the extreme north west there are mountain groups who are like historical labs. Conserved in time from some ancient time. One great example of this are the Kalash who are a non Muslim animists living in their own valleys with their own language and culture.

 

[Ryder]

Pakistanis also love their guns.

They have quite the gun culture that would make American liberals cry

 

[TR_123456]

Pakistanis also love their guns.

They have quite the gun culture that would make American liberals cry

What about Turkish gun culture?
Every traditional family has at least one gun/pistol/revolver/rifle.

 

[Kaptaan]

Pakistanis also love their guns.

They have quite the gun culture that would make American liberals cry

Yes, this is very true. Particularly west and north. In some parts not having a gun is as weird as going out without wearing shoes. Really is wild west. Look crooked at man's wife or show lack of respect could be your high noon. Each man bows to non but expect to be equal of others poor or rich. On my last visit there has been sharp reduction in visible display of guns as the army came down hard. Because of terrorism all owners opf guns came under pressure as the army could not possibly patrol areas with instability knowing who was the bad guy or good guy.

Caveat: this only applied in the rural areas on the border regions. And not urban areas or cities.

This was much appreciated by me. I personally loath guns. Guns should only be hands of police, military.

Interesting domestic flight from Islamabad to Skardu.

 

[Ryder]

What about Turkish gun culture?
Every traditional family has at least one gun/pistol/revolver/rifle.

My great grandad from my dads side was also an arms dealer and weapons smuggler

 

[Fatman17]

All set to celebrate 147th birth anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam with zeal on 25th December.