Borders Are Easy, Stories Are Hard

Stories matter.

They tell us who we are, explain where we came from, and show us where we belong. Without stories, nations are just lines drawn on maps and governments collecting taxes.

Javed Akhtar once compared cultural identity to an onion, and it makes a lot of sense. You keep peeling back the layers (language, religion, geography, shared memories, and shared tragedies) expecting to find something solid at the center. But eventually, you hit an uncomfortable realization. There is no hidden core. The layers themselves are the identity.

In many ways, Pakistan spent its early existence peeling that onion. The country was built on the idea that the Muslims of the subcontinent were fundamentally separate from the rest. To create that brand-new identity, the state had to distance itself from older histories and older identities.

The problem is that drawing borders is much easier than creating an identity from scratch.

Geography is stubborn. Harappa did not move. Mohenjo-Daro did not move. The Indus River did not suddenly change its direction in 1947. The history of the land stayed exactly where it always had.

That is why Pakistan’s modern fascination with the Indus Valley Civilization is so interesting. Because this isn’t really about archaeology. Nobody suddenly develops an emotional attachment to ancient drainage systems and baked bricks.

This is about stories.

Ancient civilizations offer something every new nation craves: an anchor. Tying yourself to a 5,000-year-old past changes the narrative. It takes a recently drawn border and makes it feel like an ancient, inevitable destiny.

But history is a package deal. You cannot spend decades actively cutting ties with a shared past to prove you are different, only to realize later that a tree without roots cannot stand. You don’t get to treat a civilization like a museum—curating the exhibits that suit your current politics while keeping the rest hidden in the basement.

That is why the argument over who “owns” Harappa misses the point entirely. It was never about ruins or artifacts.

It is about a country still trying to figure out what story it wants to tell.