The Pakistani Diaspora in the US and Celebrating Independence Day

In the last week Pakistanis around the world celebrated Pakistan’s 71st Independence Day since the country was founded in 1947. Around this time every year one can begin to see the flaunting of green and white colors and sense a general surge of prideful and nationalist sentiments, as would be expected of any community celebrating the independence of its nation-state.

However, each year these celebrations make me feel increasingly uneasy, for a variety of issues, some more explicit than others. Because the experiences and upbringings of people of Pakistani origin, in this case in the United States, are fundamentally distinct from those of people born and raised in Pakistan, these nationalistic expressions carry more complex and even problematic implications.

While these thoughts may also be applicable to other diasporic South Asian communities, the “diaspora” discussed in this piece refers to the Pakistani-American diaspora, specifically the youth, and are based on my own understandings and experiences related to this topic. That being said, I would like to make clear that I myself am not exempt from the following practices in both my discourse and actions.

First, the manner in which I have witnessed the communities around me celebrate Independence Day is troubling to me because it resembles, even incorporates nationalist tendencies that ultimately obstruct unity and the path to peace with other societies. Take one instance for example, where I…