TWO NATION THEORY

It was during the summer of 1985 that I received a call from one of my friends, Mr. Aslam from Rawalpindi. He wanted to buy a Honda 125 cc Motorcycle. I was at that time residing at Quetta and these motorcycles were new in the market and were only available at Quetta, being in high demand all over Pakistan. There peculiarity; they were Japanese made, were imported to Iran and smuggled from there to Pakistan at Quetta. Due to smuggled item, it was available at almost less than half their actual price.

The friend of mine wanted that I should check the price, communicate to him, he will send the bank draft, and I shall purchase and communicate the Engine and Chassis number to him. On that he will get it registered at Rawalpindi and send me the registration number and a copy of the registration papers. After receiving those I shall dispatch the motorcycle by train to Rawalpindi.

I discussed this matter with one of my businessman friend, Mr. Majeed. He proposed that we shall buy it from Noshki. In this way, another Rs. 2000/= shall be saved. I agreed. So, it was decided that on the coming weekend, we two will go to Noshki on his motorbike, which was about 140 KM from Quetta.

On early Sunday morning, we set-off for Noshki. In most parts of Baluchistan, the business community observe holiday on Friday, thus it was a working day and markets at Noshki were open. We were received by one Mr. Rajesh, a merchant at Noshki, who had a general store in the main bazaar. My friend Mr. Majeed informed me that Mr. Rajesh is Hindu by religion and is quite influential.

On learning our need, he instructed his Munshee (his clerk) to go survey the market for a good motorcycle at a reasonably less price than the market. Meanwhile we were entertained by Tea.

After a little while, the Munshee returned with his report. He had seen and selected six such motorcycles and recommended that best amongst those is with a Merchant Mr. Rehmat, who was a local Baloch.

Mr. Rehmat was summoned along with his motorcycle by Mr. Rajesh. We inspected the motorcycle and liked it, as it was in amicable condition. On asking, Mr. Rehmat price tagged it for Rs. 17000/=. With a little bargaining, Mr. Rehmat agreed to sell it for Rs. 16500/-. Mr. Rajesh asked us as to whether we were satisfied and really liked it. On our affirmation, Mr. Rajesh, very authoritatively told Mr. Rehmat to leave his motorcycle and told us to pay Rs. 15000/= to Mr. Rehmat, which we did. On this Mr. Rehmat tried to protest but Mr. Rajesh very angrily snubbed him and told his Munshee to bring the motorcycle in the shop. This was quite a surprise for me that Mr. Rehmat, though quite humiliated, took the money, never said a word and left. Mr. Rajesh took us along to his house for lunch.

While we were waiting for lunch to be served and our host being busy there, I asked Mr. Majeed as to how come this man Rajesh is so powerful and authoritative. He told me that Mr. Rajesh, though from the minority, is one of those merchants who were doing their business in Noshki since pre-partition. They stayed back and the local Muslim community, as per Islamic traditions, treated them good. Mr. Rajesh is prospering well and most of the local Baloch Tribal elders are under debt to him and he keeps fulfilling their financial needs. Consequently, most of the tribal elders are his close friends and never say no to him.

After a while, lunch was served. A surprise was again waiting for me. The food was served in such a manner that we were seated at one corner and Mr. Rajesh with his son on the other corner. Our crockery/cutlery was quite distinctly different and away from theirs. The food was also served in separate portions; we were given Rice (Palao), Chicken Qorma (a type of curry), Daal and Vegetable, which were quite delicious. They had separate food items of vegetable and Daal. I offered my portion of food items to them but they politely refused. When I asked them to pass their portion of the food dishes, they again very politely refused. We however, had lunch together. Much of the food was left as we were only two and the food was enough for six persons.

After lunch, I felt like going to the washroom. Mr. Rajesh guided me towards the staircase which was leading to the roof top. As per old traditions, the washroom was on the rooftop. Being new to Noshki city I interestingly looked around, as the place where I was standing was quite high from the surroundings, being the third floor of the house. Most of the houses at Noshki were single storied. I really enjoyed the view as it was a clear day and I could see all around to the distance.

Out of curiosity I glanced over the wall down the back street of the house, just to familiarize myself with the area that was when my third and shocking surprise came. I noticed that for some strange reason, our entire left-over food, which, as per my estimates, was good for four persons, was thrown over in the garbage bin. Seeing this I had nausea feelings and almost vomited my food. With a very bad feeling in my mouth, I came back down.

I told Mr. Majeed to ask leave from Mr. Rajesh which he did. We started our journey back to Quetta.

On our way back, I narrated the whole episode to Mr. Majeed to which he gave a big laugh. He asked me whether I know nothing about Hindus. He said that they believe in “CHOOT CHAAT” (the pure and impure sect of human race) and they consider that if they are touched by us Muslims or have food with them in the same utensils, they will become impure and that is a great sin. He told me that Mr. Rajesh has honored us by having food with us in his house. He also said that Mr. Rajesh has really taken a chance of annoying his wife over this. Mr. Majeed further said that to his mind, this entire food, prepared for us, would have been cooked somewhere else other than Mr. Rajesh’s house. Utensils and all the crockery/ cutlery used by us also would have been thrown away.

That is when I realized that how wise were our ancestors who thought of Two Nation Theory and Pakistan was created. A country of our own, where we are living freely at will. I was horrified of the thought as to what would have been our state of affairs, had Two Nation Theory would not have been materialized and we were to be living with them Hindus in United India. I am praying for Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Quaid-e-Azam, and his companions from the core of my heart for their realization of the Two Nation Theory and their struggle for a separate homeland for Muslims of India.