Pakistan: The True Heir Of Indus Valley Civilization – Analysis

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The vision of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in the 1940s did not only constitute creation of a Muslim political entity at the expense of India’s Hindu domination. It was also embedded in thousands of years of historical and geographical realities. These aspects clearly emerge from Jinnah’s interviews given to foreign correspondents where he described the geopolitical importance of Pakistan. The two nation reality also did not emerge only because of the differences between Hindu and Muslim peoples. It was an outcome of thousands of years of historical, geographical and genetic distinction between the peoples of Indus Valley Civilization and those occupying the Gangetic plains.

The existence of Indus Valley Civilization emerged though the ruins at Harappa in Punjab, Pakistan which were first described by Charles Masson in 1842, in his “Narrative of Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan, and the Punjab.” Though the site was visited by General Alexander Cunningham in 1856, who later headed the archeological survey of northern India, it was in 1921-22 that the excavations began which unearthed the great civilization buried under the sand for thousands of years.

The irony of it all was that it was General Alexander Cunningham who allowed East Indian Railways which was constructing railway line between the cities of Lahore and Karachi, to use the ancient bricks recovered from these sites as track ballast for the 150 kilometers of nearby stretch and thus destroyed much of the city of Harappa (3300 BC – 1300 BC). Mohenjodaro (2600 BC – 1900 BC) in Sindh, Pakistan was excavated by 1931. Mehrgarh (7000 BC -. 2500 BC) in Balochistan, Pakistan was discovered in 1974 and the excavations continued from 1974-86 and again from 1997-2000. Rehman Dheri (4000 BC) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was excavated from 1976-1980. Based on recent evidence and analyses, archeologists and historians have proclaimed that Indus Valley Civilization is over 9000 years old, making it one of the oldest civilizations of the world.

The South Asian subcontinent is principally divided into two major geographical regions; the Indus Valley and its westerly inclined tributaries, and the Ganges Valley with its easterly inclined tributaries. In his book, “The Indus Saga and the Making of Pakistan,” Aitzaz Ahsan identifies the geographical divide between these two regions as the Gurdaspur-Kathiawar salient, a watershed which is southwesterly inclined down to the Arabian Sea. This watershed also depicted the dividing line between the peoples of Indus Valley Civilization and those of Gangetic plains and also corresponds almost exactly with the current day Pakistan-India border.

Historically, only the Mauryas, Muslims and the British amalgamated these two regions as a unified state. For most of the remaining history, when one empire did not rule both the regions as a unified state, the Indus Valley Civilizational domain was always governed as one separate political entity.

Rather than an unnatural creation as propounded by many, Pakistan much more than the Gangetic plains, is an appropriate and modern embodiment of thousands of years old Indus Valley Civilization. The historical, geographical and its people’s organic linkages with Arab, Persian, Turkic and South Central Asian populace also clearly differentiates it as a distinct and definite independent identity as compared to the rest of India.

The discovery of Indus Valley Civilization in the run up to 1947 independence of Pakistan and India provided Indian nationalist Hindus an opportunity, to embed their Vedic Hindu cultural identity in a civilization, which was one of the oldest civilizations on earth and also predated emergence of Islam. However, the later identification of emergence of Vedic Hindu cultural traditions between 1500 – 600 BC, discounted such linkages. Also, the fact that Indus Valley Civilization’s cultural moorings were discovered mainly in the Indus River Valley, and partly in Ghaggar-Hakra basin and in the Doab, these cultural moorings did not find an extension into the central and lower Ganges Valley in the eastern and central Indian plains. The presence of fortified cities, town planning and drainage system, depiction of specialized epic art form and the architecture of burnt bricks, sea trade, use of seals, weights, measures and script and the custom of burying the dead in cemeteries, presented clear differentiation because of the absence of such depiction in Vedic Hindu literature and culture.

Many adherents of Indian Hindu nationalist ideology believed that India was and is a primarily Hindu nation and has Hindu religious culture in continuity from Vedic Aryans. The mosaic of cultures of the past evolving into composite Indian Hindu culture through the process of history was not based on archeological evidence but what they essentially believed in. In many cases distorting and manipulating or even forging the mute archaeological evidence through depiction of fire places as fire altars, waste pits as sacrificial pits in Harappan era sites and the imaginary reading of Sanskrit legends, was quoted in order to suit their pseudo-ideological and opportunistic interests.

Between 1900-1300 BC the civilization declined and there were no more references to Meluhha (Mesopotamian name for Indus Valley Civilization landmass) in Mesopotamian finds. However, the people who made up this great civilization continued living in places like Mehrgarh, Harappa, Mohenjodaro and other settlements long after that.

The legacy of Indus Valley Civilization lives on in present day Pakistan. Amongst some of the aspects that can still be traced to this legacy are the trade and commerce routes developed by the mentors of this great civilization. Ships from Meluhha regularly sailed from locations near modern day city of Karachi for the ports of Babylon. And they evidently made stops all along the way, as indicated through discovery of seals found in Oman, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain as well.

The city of Peshawar lies on what is thought to have been one of their main overland trade routes. That route is now a major highway that constitutes the eastern approach to the Khyber Pass and links the northwestern Indus River Plain to the highlands of Afghanistan and Central Asia. An old branch of the route runs from Peshawar, south into rugged tribal territory, through the Pakistani cities of Kohat and Bannu and the foothills of the Suleiman Mountains down across the Gomal Plain to the early historical site of Rehman Dheri.

After the decline of this civilization, the religion and language of which has still not been deciphered, at different times these people followed Vedic Hindu culture and traditions, also adopted Buddhism and in the end embraced Islam and are now overwhelmingly Muslim.

The core spread of Indus Valley Civilization primarily lay in Pakistan. The three major cities and many other sites which represent the core of Indus Valley Civilization are all located in Pakistan. However, the Indians still refer to India as the “Home of Indus Valley Civilization,” which is surprising and indeed a misnomer. India needs to realign its history and should seek its identity in its own legacy instead of claiming something to which they do not belong to.

It is the people of Pakistan who represent one of the oldest civilizations on earth. Indus Valley Civilization’s legacy is linked to Pakistan and this fact cannot be denied. The people of Pakistan thus rightly claim to be the true heirs of Indus Valley Civilization.

Khan A. Sufyan

Khan A. Sufyan is a security analyst on South Asia and has advised government, semi-government and private organizations and institutions on national and international security issues, as well as participating in number of national and international seminars and presented papers on various regional and global security issues.

10 thoughts on “Pakistan: The True Heir Of Indus Valley Civilization – Analysis

  • August 19, 2016 at 5:31 pm
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    while pakistan it self was non existant before 1947, how can it claim the inheritance? As the people of that area embraced a different imported culture, how they can be called as heirs of Indus valley civilization?

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    • February 19, 2022 at 9:22 pm
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      Their DNA is the same as the Indian people DNA. They dwell in the territory that includes the Indus Valley, therefore, they are the heirs and no one else, of the Indus Valley Civilization. Those who have abandoned that territory cannot claim anything now. They have to be content with their choice.

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      • April 29, 2023 at 8:40 pm
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        oldest indus valley civilization site ‘Bhirrana’ and largest indus valley civilization site ‘Rakhigarhi’ Both are located in India. Genetics had proven that almost all Indians are descendants of Indus valley civilization Genetically. Tamil language… oldest language spoken in Indus valley civilization is also a Indian language. Hinduism and Hindu Gods like Shiva, Hindu Yoga practices all dates back to Indus valley civilization. Read history properly.

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  • August 28, 2016 at 3:37 am
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    Its obvious that the Indus Valley Civilization, being 90% in Pakistan Region i.e the Indus Basin, is indeed Pakistans legacy. Indians are Gangetic peoples, and they should claim their non existent Ganges Valley Civilization rather than claiming IVC due to their inferiority complex. There was no India before 1947 either, as these Indian nationalists seem to forget

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  • October 20, 2017 at 2:29 pm
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    Yes it belongs to Pakistan. Indians try to claim this civilisation when in fact it flourished in present day Pakistan and a little part of present day India only. To all such Indians, read this carefully:

    India was NOT a “country/nation state” NEITHER existed as a “single entity” until 1947. Both Pakistan and Republic of India were part of BRITISH-created  ‘united India’. Therefore REJECTS Indian claim that Pakistan and India were ‘one’ in ancient and medieval times, infact there were many SOVERIEGN ethnic kingdoms all across the region (that’s why it is known as SUBCONTINENT).
    The names “India/Indica/Hindustan/Hind/Shendu” were originally used to refer to the “land around river Indus/ the Indus plains” (which is now in PAKISTAN). With time the definition of “India” broadened and EXPANDED towards gangetic plains and towards Dravidian kingdoms following the foriegn invasions by Turkic empires, Afghans and the British.
    Republic of India/ modern day India chose to keep a name that originally does not belong to them.
    ETHNIC DEMOGRAPHICS of Pakistan: Punjabi, Pashtun, Baloch, Sindhi, Seraiki, Kashmiri, Shin, Hunzakut.
    IMMIGRANT groups : “Hazara” people (originally from central Asia) and “Urdu-speaking/mohajir people” (originally from India- make up only around 6% Pakistani population).
    The Punjabis and sindhis are around 3% Indian population. Now tell me, except these 3%, WHAT have the rest of Indians (gangetic people, south Indians and north east Indians) got to do with the history and culture of Pakistan and its ethnic groups?
    Back in time there was no Pakistan or India. However It is evident that the Indus Valley civilisation and other civilisations that existed within the territorial boundaries of Pakistan belong to PAKISTAN’s ETHNIC GROUPS (which are different from India). Similarly Iranians and Iraqis have a right to claim Elam and Mesopotamia respectively, even though there was no Iraq or Iran as nations back then.

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  • October 22, 2017 at 8:05 pm
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    There is extant evidence to show the original Indus Civilization had migrated centuries after the original civilization had moved southward. It would be futile to argue that the Harappa and Mohenjadharo civilizations were Punjabi when the frescos and ruins are filled with Tamil script. Indus Civilization is not only foreign to Pakistan, it is foreign to North India.

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  • January 27, 2018 at 8:47 pm
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    Pakistan is full of converts who have no idea where they came from or where they are going. 85% of Pakistanis have Hindu ancestors and their school education overlooks that because they are all ‘wannable Arabs’.
    Hinduism was born in ancient India, the Vedas were written during the Indus Valley civilization. Universities like Takshashila are Indian but Pakistanis call it Taxila and take poor care of Harappa and Mohenjo Daro which they associate with Hinduism.

    Just because some British stooge (Cyril Radcliffe) drew a line on a map does not mean everything along the Indus is suddenly un-Indian. It will always be part of Bharat (INDIA). Radcliffe should have drawn the border west of the Indus river and Muslims should have been sent there.

    All land east of the Indus River belongs to Hindus and Indians. Jai Hind.

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  • September 17, 2018 at 2:43 am
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    Pakistan was once populated by Hindus (and later Sikhs) and Buddhists. The Indus valley civilization has many artifacts that show images of gods that are now prevalent in India in a modified form. Many of the customs found in this civilization are still prevalent (most of them in a modified form) in South India and other parts of India. In fact one of the tablets from this civilization show a deity that resembles Shiva, a Hindu god. The Rig Veda has writings that indicate periods of time that resemble time in this civilization. Weights and measures used in this civilization have been described in other ancient Indian texts. There are other findings that relate to ancient Hinduism. These are historically found facts that were unearthed by archaeologists. Owing to various reasons, some of the people from Indus Valley moved to the Gangetic plains at a later period. But both peoples were of the same ethnicity, and for a while both civilizations existed together. Indus Valley Civilization slowly subsided away. Historians feel that it may be due to natural calamities or invaders.
    Pakistanis, for whatever reason, want to imagine things. In fact, most of them are converts and try to erase the history of their own ancestors. India is a very diverse country with a concoction of many different cultures. But essentially, Indus Valley Civilization in the precursor to the later Indian cultures. This is a historically proven fact.

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  • February 15, 2022 at 4:14 am
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    I just read that although the largest IVC sites are in modern Pakistan, the majority of the IVC sites smaller than Harappa and Mohenjo Daro are in India.

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  • April 30, 2023 at 2:33 am
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    Pakistan on No extent of any wildest imagination was created on historical and geographical realities.If Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah had his way he wanted all Muslim dominated pockets of India to be part of his visioned Pakistan including Calcutta!A nation of pockets having lost East Pakistan is now in lose control of his present different pockets.Other comments are adequate to debunk this theory of creation of Pakistan on historical and geographical realities.
    Coming to Civilizaion Rakhigarhi-Hissar is 5000 older than and much larger than the Indus Valley Civilization of Mohenjodaro and Harrapa now in Pakistan .However that is not the issue the question is when did Islam take birth and where? Pakistanis need to check their DNA of origin.

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