Australia Day & Pakistan’s Independence
The 14th of August has always created many memories, being the independence day for Pakistan. The country separated from pre-partition India, making it one of the largest migrations in human history. As young kids, we understood the bare basics of that day’s significance, and its socioeconomic, geopolitical ramifications. We were more interested in the yearly celebrations we would get to take part in.
When the morning arrived, we woke up at 6:30am to prepare ourselves for the day ahead. We needed to be in school by 7:30am.
Our regular uniform was a shirt and pants for boys, and kurta and shalwar for the girls, but being independence day, we were allowed to wear our national dress too (meaning the boys got to wear the kurta and shalwar too). Green and white being the national colours of Pakistan, we were always on a mission to outshine the others with our green and white razzle dazzle. We didn’t have the liberty to flip the script and go white on the kurta and green on the shalwar, but we would all experiment with the shades of green. Light green was a favorite of ours as it was the color the Pakistan cricket team wore when they won the 1992 World Cup. Having almost been kicked out during the group stages and then saved by inclement weather, the team turned it around under Imran Khan (former captain and now Prime Minister of the country). Many boys tried to get the exact shade of green the jersey was that year.
Once at school, we would have a morning assembly, which started with the national anthem. Though this was a daily occurrence, the 14th of August was the one time of the year many would puff out their chests and sing with pomp and joy:
‘Pak sarzameen shad bad
Kishwar-e-Haseen shad bad
Tou Nishaan-e-Azm-e-aali shan Arz-e-Pakistan’
The first three lines always had the most gusto. As we held our own through the ebb and flow of the lyrics, Independence Day was the right day to reflect on what those lyrics meant and what the founding fathers wanted. The hair on the back of our necks would jolt upright, but sadly, we were too young to introspect.
After a speech by a guest speaker (never memorable, but a rite of passage), we would spend the morning on campus, singing and waving flags. Then we would get into our cars and head down to the nearest dhaba. Being in Karachi, a coastal town, we were never far from the sea and as we sipped our chai and nibbled on our parathas, we felt the monsoon breeze that August always bring.
Australia Day was a totally different experience for me. Even though still young (aged 9-11), being new migrants to Perth, we would go down to the Swan river and sit by the shore on the 26th of January. People would have picnic baskets, beer and wine, and their whole family in tow, spending the whole afternoon lazing on the shores. Kids would be running around playing and the parents would kick back on a day off.
What I always remembered were the streams of green and gold. In the coming years, I’d recognize the Australian cricket, basketball and soccer teams through these colors. There were also outback hats, flip flops (called ‘thong’s – very unsavory) and singlets (called ‘wife beaters’ – even more unsavory); typical attire for the warm January summer of the southern hemisphere. I found it quite amusing that what Australians are known for overseas was the narrative of my Australia day experience.
Many years later, with more life experience and intellectual wherewithal, I started deconstructing what these National days really meant with friends (including TCK friends) . For Pakistan, the white on our flag represents minorities, whether religious, ethnic or cultural. People were not to be discriminated against on these lines. The unfortunate reality remains that equality in Pakistan is only stated in the Constitution and given lip service by politicians. Cultures outside of those in the Punjab heartland remain largely sidelined in the political and economic realms.
Australia Day is a contentious holiday, with a growing movement to rename it ‘Invasion day’. The European settlers co-opted it on the backs of indigenous genocide and institutional racism, the White Australia policy being testament to that. Sitting by the Swan river, those colours meant nothing to me, but now I see the gold as one of many resources annexed by European settlers, and the green as the fertile land they usurped. It’s funny how perspective changes. I now also understood that even though the saying ‘have a fair go’ still dominates the Australian vernacular, equality wasn’t front and center when the colony was created, nor is it to this day based on treatment of indigenous Australians.
Australian Day and Pakistan’s Independence day are nation building rituals built on the supposed foundation of equality. Both countries state so in their constitution. Growing up experiencing both sets of days in different cultures, I felt proud to be part of cultures which purported to advocate for equality. It was only once I grew older, travelled, met different people and experienced different cultures did I realise that ‘all are equal but some are more equal than others’.
Though this seems depressing, the reality remains that there is great opportunity for TCKs to mould their understanding of equality across cultures. Once can pick up progressive practices from one culture and advocate them in another. This is one of the greatest services TCKs can give the world.
*Pak sarzameen shad bad. Kishwar-e-Haseen shad bad. Tou Nishaan-e-Azm-e-aali shan Arz-e-Pakistan’ : Urdu for “Blessed be the sacred land, Happy be the bounteous realm, Symbol of high resolve, Land of Pakistan.”