From Mohsin Dawar To Usman Dar; Here’s How Racist We Pakistanis Are

As a Pakistani, if you haven’t encountered racism within the country, (a) you have no idea how lucky you are and (b) HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!

Racist comments are as much a societal reflex in Pakistani households as the need to eat pakoray on a rainy day. I mean how can one deny its existence when we’ve grown-up listening to our own parents stereotyping ethnicities other than theirs. *smh*🤦

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As a Punjabi, for the longest time I genuinely believed that racism was a Punjabi problem. But then Twitter came into my life and as I began navigating through its Pakistani side, it became all but evident that racism, my friends is very much a Pakistani problem.

And then, PTM leader and MNA, Mohsin Dawar’s recent viral comments during a public procession sent me down a rabbit hole making me realize how every race in Pakistan – knowingly or unknowingly – is pitting itself against the other.

Let’s take a look at 7 fairly recent moments when Pakistanis with a huge following went all out racist and how!

1. Mohsin Dawar calling the policeman who arrested him “…a Punjabi with ugly face.”

Well, making a racist comment Mohsin Dawar is just defeating the purpose of his own fight. What remains behind when you’re using the same racist language that has been bothering you since forever?!

All I can say is don’t take it personally guys; we all hear this from our moms all the time! 🤷‍♀️

2. Remember the viral racist ad that portrayed Pashtuns as enemies of the state?

To make matters worse, the ad was approved and paid for by the Punjab Government!

Even though the ad was taken down by the government and the Minister of Information at the time, Fawad Chaudhry, apologized for it; the damage it caused could not be undone.

3. Journalist Zalmay Azad casually sent out an unnecessarily racist tweet recently in response to a viral video from the student solidarity march.

4. And of course, who can forget Usman Dar passing disparaging comments about the “Pathan” community on a live television in November!

5. And then there’s Orya Maqbool Jan, infamous for his conspiracy theories, firing off racist comments hostile to Pakhtuns.

6. There are few people Pakistan loves unanimously and Anwar Maqsood is one of them. But even the mighty fall and when they do there’s no way they won’t go viral!

Here’s Anwar Maqsood offending Sindhis with some good, old fashioned racism. 🤦

7. Last but not the least is Khan sahab himself! While everyone else seems to be busy encouraging indigenous racism, Imran Khan goes all out to include foreigners in the fold!

Read: Meghan Markle Vs Kate Middleton: 16 Headlines That Prove British Press Is Racist

With all these comments coming from influential Pakistanis, it seems there’s a lot of un-learning and re-learning that we need to do as a whole!

We can’t change everyone and everything, but the least that we can do is just be mindful of what we say. Take care of the words and the conversations will take care of themselves!