The camaraderie between Olympians Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra despite the strained India-Pakistan ties highlights enduring cross-border bonds built on mutual respect that transcend nationality, religion, and politics, highlighting the deep-rooted cultural and historical connections and common heritage
Arshad Nadeem, Pakistan’s first Olympic gold medalist in athletics, and defending champion Neeraj Chopra who finished second to him at the Paris Olympics have been exemplary in their sportsmanship. Their mutual warmth has grown although the India-Pakistan ties have gone from bad to worse with almost no people-to-people contacts, the cornerstone of efforts to build peace until 2014.
Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra share a fraternal relationship. Their mothers, Saroj and Razia Parveen, reciprocated such sentiments referring to Nadeem and Chopra as their sons after they competed in Paris. ‘He [Chopra] is also like my son. He is Nadeem’s friend and brother. Wins and losses are part of the sport. May God bless him [Chopra], and may he win medals. They are like brothers, I have prayed for Neeraj too,’ said Parveen.
Saroj echoed Parveen saying they were happy with Chopra’s silver since Nadeem, who got gold, is also their child. ‘… All athletes work hard. Nadeem is also good. He plays well. There is no difference between Neeraj and Nadeem. We got gold and silver, and there is no difference for us.’
Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra’s friendship off the field and the Indian javelin thrower’s support for the Pakistani athlete has earned him the wrath of India’s far right, which sees everything from a Hindu-Muslim binary. The camaraderie challenges the binary and highlights enduring bondings which go beyond common languages, food, culture, social norms, and history.
Nadeem is a Punjabi Jat and Chopra comes from Haryana, where Jats are the largest community. Jats of India and Pakistan also have common gotras, denoting patrilineality. When Amarinder Singh became the first chief minister of Indian Punjab to visit Pakistan in 2004, he bonded with his counterpart from Pakistani Punjab province, Pervaiz Elahi, an influential Jat politician. Both Singh and Elahi belong to the same Waraich Jat clan.
Elahi gifted Singh, who headed India’s Jat Mahasabha, a horse. Caste, biradari, or bonds based on kinship, have defined power politics in the subcontinent. The seven-decade India-Pakistan division has proved to be too insignificant to erase the traits that centuries of togetherness have shaped.
Elahi’s family is among the most influential Jat political families in Pakistan. His cousin, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, served as Pakistan’s 16th prime minister. Jats Muhammad Rafiq Tarar, Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, and Sir Chaudhry Muhammad Zafarullah Khan were Pakistan’s ninth president, undivided Punjab Prime Minister, and the first Pakistani foreign minister respectively. Zafarullah Khan presided over the International Court of Justice and also the UN General Assembly. Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s charismatic former foreign minister, also comes from an influential Jat political family.
Jats have been among the mainstays of the Pakistan army. Qamar Javed Bajwa, a Jat, has been among the longest-serving chiefs of the army in Pakistan. Revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz belonged to the Kahlon Jat community. Pakistan’s yesteryear fearsome fast bowlers such as Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis are also Jats.
Before Partition, Maula Jatts or Muley Jats, as Muslim Jats are known in western Uttar Pradesh, straddled defined religious boundaries and followed Hindu and Muslim customs like other liminal communities such as Meos or Mewatis. The Hindu and Muslim Jats intermarried. Their Jat identity tied them closely to Jats across other major faiths—Hinduism and Sikhism—with whom they had lived side by side in present-day Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
Maula Jatts were shielded by the umbrella of their larger Jat identity. Or so they thought. The violence directed at them during the Partition caught them by surprise. Maula Jatts were no longer immune to the burden of their Muslim identity as competitive revivalism fuelled polarization; a spark among many that fanned into the fires of Partition violence. Some chose ‘purification’ to return to the Hindu fold to save their lives and properties. Most caught off guard faced a death trap: the long and arduous route to Pakistan.
Maula Jatts converted to Islam under Muslim saint Fariduddin Ganjshakar’s influence in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. They did not, however, totally abandon the trappings of their former faith and followed the gotra system of village exogamy like Hindu Jats. Their flight to Pakistan hastened their Islamization.
Maula Jatts are today spread across Pakistan—from Mirpur Khas and Nawabshah in Sindh to Punjab’s Pakpattan and Okara. They have maintained their distinct identity. Maula Jatts speak Haryanvi, discourage exogamous marriages prevalent among Punjabis, and settle petty matters through village councils on the lines of India’s khap panchayats.
Urbanized Maula Jatts have adopted Punjabi customs and language. ‘Aggressive and macho’ Maula Jatts are also the stuff of legend in Pakistan thanks to the Punjabi film Maula Jatt (1979) based on a folk hero who takes on brutal clan leader Noori Natt. Maula Jatt’s roaring success inspired several films in the 1980s. Bilal Lashari’s Punjabi film The Legend of Maula Jatt (2022), an adaptation of the 1979 movie, starring heartthrobs Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan, broke box-office records to become the highest-grossing Pakistani film ever.
The screening of The Legend of Maula Jatt in India was canceled in India in the face of threats from far-right groups. It was set to become the first Pakistani movie to be released in India in over a decade, raising hopes of resumption of cultural exchanges between the two countries after years of hostile ties. Indian multiplex chains INOX Leisure and PVR Cinemas announced the movie release before taking down the announcements. Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan’s Bol was the last Pakistani movie released in India in 2011.
Pakistani artists were banned from working in Indian films when tensions escalated between the two countries. Ameya Khopkar, a leader of the Hindu nationalist Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, called Fawad Khan’s Indian fans traitors and said they may go to Pakistan and watch their films.
Pakistani films, dramas, and music have remained popular in India. Cultural exchanges have, however, become increasingly difficult since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power in 2014. Pakistani singers Ali Sethi and Shae Gill’s song Pasoorion on the Coke Studio platform was among the most streamed songs on Spotify India. Joyland, Pakistan’s latest nomination for the Oscars, was screened at India’s Dharamshala International Film Festival in November 2022, highlighting the continuing potential of art as a unifier.
Art has been among the few common grounds between the two countries; a glue that bound them together even in the worst of times. In a world where even art and culture have become a casualty of politics, the story of Arshad Nadeem and Neeraj Chopra serves as a beacon of hope and shared humanity in the truest Olympic spirit of building a better and peaceful world.
