ABSTRACT
In this chapter the author discusses the relationship between poetry and politics; the ways the poets in a particular political scenario are forced to transform into political activists; and her approach towards understanding Siraiki ‘resistance’. She introduces six Siraiki terms such as, maa boli, maa dharti, sunjaan, vakhrap, vasaib and moonjh. Maa boli, like maa dharti is a modern compound corresponding to Punjabi maan boli, while sunjaan is a native Siraiki word used in a new specialised sense of identity consciousness. Against the backdrop of simultaneous rejection and maturity of the Siraiki identity in postcolonial Pakistan, the author analyses Siraiki resistance poetry as a symbol of vasaib, embodying both the passion for the mother tongue and motherland. In addition to being a source of communication, contemporary Siraiki poets most comfortably benefit from poetry as a symbol of translating, celebrating, expressing, reconstructing history and sharing these attributes of poetry with each other and people belonging to other cultures.
