ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the poetry collection, Usaan Khairat Naeen Mungday, of the famous Siraiki poet Safeer Lashari. It analyses two of his most politically charged turanas titled, ‘Wake up Siraiki, Wake up!’ and ‘Let’s Confederate a Province of Siraikistan’, and compare them with another of his poems inspired by Siraiki nationalism, titled, ‘Plea of the Siraiki’. The chapter discusses Lashari’s forceful attempt to interrogate the complex concept of a Pakistani ‘nation’ and emergence of Siraiki as a micro-nation, its identification of ‘nationalism’, the ‘military domination’ which has influenced the ideology of ‘patriotism’ and finally the common assumption of Sufi Islam as being non-fundamentalist. Following Zamaan Jafery, Lashari rejects the Two Nation Theory and finds religion a fake symbol of ‘super patriotism’. Islam is therefore regarded as only one aspect of social development in Pakistan by both Lashari and Jafery when they prioritise Siraiki, Sindhi and Balochi ethno-linguistic identities, which are reinforced by their territorial demands.
