I have never heard any Pakistani say anything offensive — critical, maybe, but never disparaging — about two Indians: Lata Mangeshkar and Mahatma Gandhi. And this is regardless of whether the two countries are at war or at peace. Gandhi — India’s revered Father of the Nation, still fondly called Bapu in parts of South Asia — occupies a complex place in Pakistan’s historical, political, and literary memory.

Gandhi’s name is part of Pakistan’s landscape, especially in the Sind province, as it is — expectedly — in India. For instance, Karachi’s zoo was famously known as “Gandhi Garden” before Partition, and continues to be called so despite an official change of name. The plaque may now say National Zoological and Botanical Garden, but the old name is imprinted on the cultural being of the majority of people in the city. Yes, attitudes towards seeing animals caged have undergone a change as the younger generation wants to see animals roaming free. The name, therefore, sticks rather ironically in popular recall, says my friend Aijaz Mangi, a Karachi-based poet.

That we have borrowed Gandhi’s name for our own heroes should underline his impact in the subcontinent, perhaps even beyond. Noted freedom fighter Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, who led the non-violent movement against British colonialism in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), became Frontier Gandhi or Sarhadi Gandhi. The stature of this Pashtoon leader, also known as Bacha Khan, in Pakistani socio-political movements was elevated by the halo of Gandhi’s name. Miskeen Jahan Khan Khoso became, through his work, the Gandhi of the Thar, the........

© hindustantimes