It is not often that a government advertisement stops the traffic. ‘‘Reviving the spirit of Punjab, Punjabi, and Punjabiyat,’’ is one of those rare lines. The slogan coined by the Punjab government points to a big new trend unfolding in the sub-continent. The land, language and culture of a people divided by the Partition are being celebrated in two events this week in Patiala—a session of the World Punjabi Conference and the first ever games between Punjabi athletes from India and Pakistan. And guess who is gracing them both? The Chief Minister of West Punjab, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi. What’s going on here? The pain of Punjab’s partition three generations ago is giving way to extraordinary enthusiasm across the border for reconnecting the land and the people. Taking advantage of a small crack that has opened between India and Pakistan, the political classes in the two Punjabs have taken the initiative to broaden the scope of what is permissible by the two central governments. After nearly six decades of separation, the notion of Punjabiyat is turning out to be a powerful force pulling together Punjabis across the border. Elahi crosses the Wagah border, near Amritsar, on Thursday. After joining the World Punjabi Conference and before inaugurating the all-Punjab games, Elahi will fetch up in New Delhi to a warm welcome. Elahi, who hails from one of the most powerful political families in Pakistan, is paying a return visit after Capt Amarinder Singh, chief minister of Punjab, travelled to Lahore earlier this year to attend the last session of the World Punjabi Conference. Punjabis—the biggest victims of the Subcontinent’s Partition—are now one in seeking to promote their shared language, culture and heritage. They are demanding open borders and easier movement of people. And they are impatient with the glacial progress in Indo-Pak relations. There is a growing demand for a bus service between Amritsar and Lahore, once the twin cities of undivided Punjab. Sikhs in Indian Punjab want freer access to their holy sites in West Punjab—especially the Nankana Sahib. New Delhi and Islamabad have agreed to allow a limited movement across the border on special occasions. But the Punjabis on both sides want more freedoms, now. Elahi travelled to Nankana Sahib on the occasion of Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary last week and promised to make it a model city by expanding facilities for visiting Sikh pilgrims. Farmers in West Punjab see immense benefits from agricultural cooperation with their brethren in the east. Travel agents are salivating at the prospects of people moving across the border in thousands once tourist visas become the norm. Land prices along the Amritsar-Lahore road through Wagah have sharply risen in recent months, thanks to the expectation of open borders and greater commerce. But nothing animates them more than the prospect of reviving the intangible spirit of Punjabiyat. The Punjabi diaspora from India and Pakistan is actively contributing to a revival of Punjabi language and culture. The talk of Punjabiyat might evoke fears in New Delhi and Islamabad of a destabilising chauvinism on their borders. But the long tradition of Sufi mysticism, religious syncretism, and the inclusive humanism of Nanak and Bulle Shah are at the core of Punjabiyat, and form a big barrier against attempts to stoke ugly nationalism. The revival of Punjabiyat could be the biggest force for sustainable peace between India and Pakistan. The animus arising from the tragedy of Partition made the Punjabis across the border the most hawkish on national security. Hostile attitudes towards India in Pakistan have largely been in comparison to that of East Punjab in India. The renewal of Punjabiyat across the border, if encouraged by India and Pakistan, could lay the basis for a future in the Subcontinent that is very unlike the recent bitter past.
