Urdu-speaking Muslims in Pakistan - or the Mohajirs - are the largest group of non-resident Indians. Yet in India there is not much interest in the Mohajirs' plight. The reasons are obvious. The circumstances in which they migrated to Pakistan are different from those under which other Indians left for other lands. They are also supposed to be the real founders of Pakistan.Yet, an understanding of their present dilemma and their motivation in demanding a separate homeland are crucial for understanding the Muslim mind in general and the situation in Pakistan in particular. It is a measure of their desperation that MQM leader Altaf Hussain declared in September that "the division of the Indian subcontinent was the biggest blunder in the history of mankind". Disillusioned with Mohammad Ali Jinnah, he said, "If we break the country, we will never name it after Jinnah", as was earlier proposed. He recited the first line of òf40óSare Jahan Se Acha Hindustan Hamara as his favourite song by a favourite poet. Reminding his audience there were more Muslims in India than in Pakistan, he said, "So far I have been writing to Pakistani leaders. My next letter will be to Indian Muslims." Will they, and the Indian nation, respond to this call of despair?We need to first understand the tragedy of the Urdu-speaking Muslim community which was a unique geo-historical entity. Though a minority in its own region, it shaped the religious and political role of Islam in India. The Mughal empire - arguably the most advanced and civilised Muslim empire in the world - and the Urdu-speaking Muslim aristocracy came to represent not only the central authority but also the spirit of Indian patriotism. It was therefore no accident that Bahadurshah Zafar was the natural choice for leadership of India's first war of independence in 1857.The end of the Mughal empire was the most traumatic experience for the Urdu-speaking Muslim elite. From a dominant community of the heartland, they stepped into the role of a leading elite of the pan-Indian Muslim community. But the difficulties they encountered, in settling terms with the emergent Indian nationalism, defined in Hindu religious idiom and with the expanding role of the numerically larger Hindu community, need not be gone into here.While the identity problem was not so acute for those Muslims who were in a majority in their regions, Urdu-speaking Muslims became the most vocal representatives of the demand for a separate homeland.But their disillusionment with Partition was not far away. In India, the stigma of having partitioned the country still haunts them. In Bangladesh, Bengalis treated them as traitors while Pakistan refused to accept them. In Pakistan, the land of their hopes and dreams, the locals treated them as aliens. Having failed to discover an Islamic melting pot in which all ethnic identities would dissolve, the Mohajirs demanded their recognition as one of the five nationalities of Pakistan and a separate homeland within the country which they called Urdu Pradesh, given their nostalgia for UP.There are many lessons in this for the Urdu Muslim community of India in particular and Indians in general. First, their urge for identity - which now they seek in non-religious terms - is legitimate. Second, they can be avital nucleus for evolving a subcontinental identity in South Asia which can become a major regional power centre in the world. Third, there is no other Muslim community in the world that is as intellectually and culturally endowed as the Urdu-speaking Muslims. Let India aspire to equip this community to be a source of inspiration to Muslims elsewhere without attempting to undermine their loyalty to their respective countries. Finally, we need to realise that neither the Muslim community nor the Pakistanis are monolithic. Their cultural and ethnic urges need to be equally understood.
