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The Mohajir Factor-I A time to compromise

Pakistan is estimated to have a total of 12.56 million households, of which 0.96 million of the population are Urdu lingual only (THE NATION, August 26, 1990), a total of 7.60% thus having Urdu as the only language. In Punjab 4.26% Urdu speaking only makes up 0.31 million households while in Sindh 0.61 million such households comprise 22.64% of the population. The next largest segment of Mohajirs of Urdu speaking only population is in the Urban Areas of Islamabad Capital Territory where 6,577 households make up 17.73% of the total 35,683 households. A comprehensive survey shows that the largest concentration of Mohajirs (the term used hereafter in this article to denote Urdu speaking only refugees from India and their descendants) in the rural areas of Pakistan are also in the Province of Sindh, 3,348 Mohajir households making up only 2.17% of the 1.54 million households. On the other hand in the Urban areas of Sindh, 0.58 million Mohajir origin households comprise fully 49.68% of the population, whereas in overall statistics of the whole of Pakistan’s urban areas they make up 24.40% of the 3.41 million households.

Analysis thus shows that the largest number of people of Mohajirs are settled in (1) Sindh (2) the major Urban areas of Sindh (3) Islamabad where government servants re-located with the shifting of the Federal capital and (4) the urban population of Pakistan, comprising a fairly significant segment, almost a quarter of the households.

Looking at the statistics in a slightly different manner. Balochistan has a total of 0.59 million households but Mohajirs, comprising 0.96 million households in Pakistan, outnumber the Baloch, by almost one and a half times. Urdu speaking only households make up almost half as much as Sindhi households (0.96 million households compared to 2.1 million households). Pathans of NWFP comprise about one and a half times more households (1.61 million) than the Mohajirs. An order of priority in population ratio shows Punjab (7 million households), Sindh (2.61 million households), NWFP (1.61 million households), Mohajirs (0.96 million households), Balochistan (0.59 million households) and FATA (0.26 million households).

Mr Ali Akbar in THE NATION of August 26, 1990 makes a sweeping condemnation of the Mohajirs for asking for the right of nationality. Without commenting upon their demand as such, with respect to population Mohajirs make up more than the Baloch and Pathan tribals of FATA combined, who incidentally are each more vocal about their distinct nationality (and with every right to do so) than the other races in Pakistan. Mr Ali Akbar condemns Mohajirs for wearing Kurta Pajamas in preference to Shalwar Kameez whereas if he were to go into the interior of Sindh and Punjab he would find a fair amount of villagers in Lungi. One shudders to think what inference he would draw from that.

One of the great advantages of having CNN in our daily lives is that we get to see life as it is happening. People are outraged at the plight of hapless refugees at the Iraqi-Jordanian border, huddled in make-shift tents, making long queues for scarce water and food in the swirling heat and dust, subject to scorpion stings and other vagaries of nature, their suffering writ starkly on their faces, despite the help being rendered by many world agencies and the constant shuttling of flights to evacuate them to their various homeland, CNN has been bringing their absolute misery into our lives. Now take a flashback and see the same scenes but this time the swirling heat and dust is bereft of water and food, people and corpses with bullet and stab wounds litter the landscape, the lucky few coming across in sporadic trains and convoys of bullock carts, most trudging on their barefoot to their concept of freedom, the land of their dreams, Pakistan. Through this cauldron came people from Urdu speaking only areas as well as a sizeable segment of Punjabi Muslims from East Punjab, refugees all without ethnic consideration, bonded together by their suffering. To understand the anger of the Mohajir youth one must take into cognisance the sufferings of their parents as they came across from India, to assuage their anger one must come to terms with their frustrated aspirations, channelling their ambitions into the national mainstream, not driving them into becoming outcasts, the backlash of rebellion never being far away, even the most tame animal will fight back when driven into a corner. At the same time it must be remembered that as more people from East Punjab came across than Urdu-speaking Mohajirs, they are no less Mohajirs in the real sense of the word, the brutality inflicted on them left not one Muslim family in East Punjab. It is true that being ethnically alike with the people of West Punjab the refugees from East Punjab assimilated quickly, a fair amount moved down to Karachi, went to Peshawar, Quetta or other cities and towns. Being hardly villagers, they quickly rehabilitated on newly reclaimed or abandoned agriculture land. In today’s description, they may have ceased to be Mohajirs, their suffering has not been any less.

In the major cities of Province Mohajirs comprise the majority of households (0.43 million out of 0.80 million) Karachi (54.34%) and Hyderabad (68.05%), while in Sukkur they make up a sizeable bloc of 38.50% out of the 31,203 households. Given that the balance of the population are Punjabi, Pathan, Baloch, Sindhi, Bangladeshi, Afghanis, Iranian, etc. in Karachi and in Hyderabad Sindhis, Punjabis, Baloch, Pathan etc. in that order of population percentage, Mohajirs are a dominant political force in two major cities. They have as much democratic right to rule in those areas as much as the Punjabis have in Lahore and Rawalpindi, the Pathans in Peshawar and Kohat, the Baloch in Quetta and Sibi, and the Sindhis in all the other areas of Sindh, it is not a man made mandate to be given to them as a gift but their God-given right in a democracy. Mr Ali Akbar is trying to visit the sins of some of the Mohajir political and bureaucratic fathers on their Mohajir descendants without clarifying that most of the Mohajir elite who may have benefited in the early years of Pakistan due to various factors are as estranged from the present Mohajir mainstream as anyone else, one has just to look at the make-up of the current MQM leadership. Even in the Punjab, there is subdued resentment against the Jullundur-Mafia (a motley lot of bureaucrats, military and civil came from East Punjab including the late Gen Zia). One of the most striking aspects of the present MQM leadership is that without exception all of them belong to the lower middle class or the poor, an excellent foundation for providing grass-roots leadership. Out of the 95 Muslim officers in ICS and IPS (out of 101) who, at the time of independence opted for Pakistan, Mr Ali Akbar claims that 62 were Mohajirs, 32 were Punjabis and none were from Sindh, Balochistan or NWFP. Whereas it is true that Pakistan’s top bureaucracy at the time of independence consisted mainly of Mohajirs, it was never that dominant a majority, a number of people were counted as Mohajirs who were actually sons of the soil. The emergence of MQM is a manifestation of the neglect and indifference shown by the Mohajir elite towards their own unfortunate brethren. The bureaucrats in the early years of Pakistan were no different from the bureaucratic elite today, they only had ambitions for themselves and their own immediate families, the middle class and the poor were (and still are) looked down with contempt, with no preference for any particular race. Mr Ali Akbar has neglected to compare the literacy rates obtaining among the races which made up Pakistan in 1947. The Mohajirs had more people in the bureaucracy not because the British had hatched a far drawn out conspiracy to increase their numbers but because the Urdu speaking areas in pre-independence India had (1) a higher literacy rate coupled with (2) a greater urge to join the civil services. In any case, all the races in Pakistan have their fair share in the civil services, not an optimum percentage perhaps, but given the circumstances of population and literacy rate, fair enough.

Because Karachi was the Federal capital, most of the Government departments and semi-autonomous corporations had a large number Mohajirs, particularly among the lower gazetted and non-gazetted staff from those coming from Behar, United Provinces and Hyderabad. It is true that this must have acted as a force-multiplier effect for further employment of Mohajirs to the exclusion of other races, nepotism being never far away in any third world country. However, this argument is self-serving, more Punjabis and Pathans are employed in the industries located in Punjab and NWFP respectively, in Lahore more population being Punjabis more Punjabis would be employed, in Peshawar more Pathans, in Quetta more Baloch and so forth. There are more Punjabis and Pathans in the Armed Forces because that was the predominant Muslim composition of the British Indian Army and it has carried on in the same vein. On the other hand, very few businesses are today in the hands of the hard-core supporters of MQM, most industries and commercial businesses in Karachi being owned by people from Bombay, Delhi and even Hyderabad, people who had a background of business in most cases and who are bilingual e.g. Memons speaking Gujrati and Urdu, Delhi Saudagran speaking Punjabi and Urdu, etc. The hard-core of MQM are basically have-nots, mostly from Behar and include others from Urdu lingual areas of India. The sufferings of all the Pakistanis (Mohajirs included) at the hands of the elite bureaucracy (including Mohajir bureaucrats) has persisted, but in a dwindling capacity, since 1947. Mr Ali Akbar should be fair and admit that all Pakistanis have been on the receiving end of an “imperial” bureaucracy. Even today they are the real ruling elite. Who are Ghulam Ishaq Khan, Roedad Khan, Ijlal Haider Zaidi, Fazlur Rahman Khan, etc.?

Anytime any new political force emerges on the national scene they tend to flex their political muscle for gains for their supporters, this is not a Mohajir-confined phenomenon alone or restricted to Pakistan alone, it is pervasive practice in most countries of the world. Though not exactly a good example, to an extent the “Mohajir” factor resembles the “Coloured” factor in the USA, both are minorities that have majorities in certain key urban cities, e.g. Washington D.C, Chicago, etc. The world has not come to an end because Deakin has become Mayor of New York, except that Mayor Deakin has the executive powers that any democracy gives to a Metropolitan Government, Mayor Farooq Sattar has no such powers, he is ruled mostly by bureaucratic fiat. It is very true that the MQM has an ugly side, no civilized society can countenance the use of “terror” squads but in the proliferation of squads of all ilk and political colours where squads meant for self-protection tend to run wild, one cannot single out the MQM only for ostracisation. All militant groups, whether they are PPP, MQM, Jiay Sindh, etc. need to be exterminated by strong, punitive action by the law enforcement agencies. At the same time one cannot also sit back and see the Sindhi become an “endangered” or “extinct” species in the urban areas of their own land, any attempt to force the Sindhis to migrate out of the cities of Sindh should be stamped out ruthlessly.

Instead of going the way of confrontation, which easily comes by highlighting stark differences, it is time we enlarged upon the common factors, firstly to stop further ethnic polarisation and secondly to come together as the one nation that we really are. Pakistan has had a leadership crisis starting soon after the Quaid-e-Azam died, with Shaheed-i-Millat surviving him for a bare three years or so thereafter. We have since been in the hands of bureaucrats, the alternate political or military regime is just a mere facade which is changed from time to time.

The Province of Sindh belongs to the Sindhis, at the same time a fairly large segment of the urban population do not speak the Sindhi language, but are Urdu lingual or speak any of the language of other races in Pakistan, they have as much similar fundamental rights on this land as the ethnic Sindhis, our aim should not be to give any faction any basic rights at the cost of the other. Since the two main communities in Sindh are Sindhi and Urdu speaking, the Sindhi speaking population should learn Urdu, so should the Urdu speaking population also learn Sindhi. The other races who have settled in Sindh, previously Punjabis and Pathans, must learn both the languages. For many decades there has been inter-marriages within all the communities, this must continue to be encouraged as should commerce and industry, preferential loans and credits being given to joint projects. There is nothing that binds people together more than the fabric of commerce.

The major frustrations of the people stem from the fact that while there is a lot of rhetoric about adult franchise and democracy, at the basic level there is not even a hint of democracy in actual practice. Below the level of the Federal or Provincial Minister all is in the hand of bureaucrats, some of them morally depraved and having no loyalty except to line their own pockets. We talk about the looting of the nationalised banks what about the bureaucrats who headed the Development Finance Institutions? Why should we not bring the Chief Operating Officers, who have been Chairman and Managing Directors of PICIC, IDBP, BEL, NDFC, etc. into the accountability process? Give this task to a select private sector group and see how many come up with instances of loans and credits disbursed to families and friends, even on “swap” arrangements, to avoid accountability, the Managing Director of one DFI would request the other DFI to process an application favourably, returning the favour on reciprocal basis. Some of the bureaucrats even specialize in the running of DFIs, hopping from one to another, some of them cannot spend even one night without hitting the battle, courtesy of willing beneficiary businessman. It would be interesting to see their class composition and the spread of credit disbursed. Now they have become the elite rich of this country, a part of the “Untouchables”. The people elect their leaders, the leaders promptly forget that they exist, leaving the rule to the real rulers of the country, the bureaucracy which goes on and on, bending the rules when it suits them, applying them strictly when it doesn’t. All this is as much true for all Pakistanis as is true for Mohajirs also.

The Mohajir frustration is easily assuaged by giving them their right of metropolitan rule in the cities in which a majority of their councillors get elected. The borders of Sindh cannot (and SHOULD NOT) be re-drawn to include other nationalities but in the major urban cities of Karachi and Hyderabad, Metropolitan Government with all its benefits or disadvantages must be their prerogative. Given the right of local government, why should the Mohajirs feel frustrated? The type of justice they serve to their minority races they will receive themselves as a minority in Pakistan. They are as much liable to Provincial or Federal laws as they would expect to enforce in the communities in which they have a majority. One doesn’t expect that they will immediately become saints and everything will overnight become fine and dandy, yet a start will be made, very few people who accept responsibility misuse that privilege, the dishonourable excepted of course.

One must face the stark facts of life. The Sindhis must realize that the refugees who came from India and their descendants can never go back, neither they can go to other distant lands, at least in any great numbers. For better or for worse most of them have settled in 3-4 urban areas of Sindh, the ethnic Sindhis have become a minority in those areas but in return the non-Sindhis must accept that this was their ancestral land and to deprive them of their right to live in the cities would be as unfair as the driving of the non-Sindhis into the sea.

Mutual accommodation is in mutual interest while a politics of strife will result in deeper polarisation without any lasting solution. There is a great responsibility devolving on the intellectuals and the media to rejuvenate the ideals of society in the minds of the conflicting parties, not to exacerbate it by manipulating statistics and history. Mr Ali Akbar’s piece in THE NATION is an ill-conceived attempt to create a lasting wedge between Mohajirs and the rest of Pakistan, particularly between the Mohajirs and Punjabis. Given that at this time the greater tiff is between (1) Mohajirs and Sindhis and (2) Mohajirs and Punjabis, Pathans, Ali Akbar’s article directed towards a Mohajir-Punjabi problem comes into the realm of deliberate mischief-making targeted to irretrievably damage the historic affinity between the Mohajirs and Punjabis. He mentions the Bushra Zaidi incident, fails to mention that it was a mini-bus owned and driven by a Pathan which started the Mohajir-Pathan strife in Karachi in the first place leading to the formation of MQM, Punjabis were on the receiving end simply because they were the first cousins of the Pathans. If intellectuals, having done widespread research into issues, tend to misinterpret and then misrepresent facts wrongly, it stands to reason that it is done with vested interest.

To twist facts is no great art, any “thanedar” worth his salt can do it as we see in concocted FIRs day after day. Intellectuals who write in the media have a great responsibility to be objective, a partial attitude may damage credibility but by the airing of such views it vitiates the atmosphere among the (mostly) semi-literate population of Pakistan. This causes incalculable damage to national unity. While one cannot propagate that ugly facts be papered over and we should all live in blissful ignorance of reality there is something called psychological warfare and misinformation is a major part of it. Whenever there is a motivated bending of facts, one must look beyond to the purpose and come to conclusion that the facts of responsible journalism were violated deliberately to exacerbate the tensions between the races.

Mohajirs must have their place in the sun, as much as any Pakistani. This place cannot be carved out at the expense of other Pakistanis, be it Sindhi, Punjabi or others, it must be done by integrating into each respective society without losing their own identity. On the other hand where the Mohajir community have a majority, democratic practice dictates that they exercise their right to rule and other races must invariably learn to integrate into that society, without losing their identity or being coerced to do so. Most ethnic strife has economic overtones, yet in the blind hatred of violence this is lost sight of. The only salvation for Pakistan lies in increasing economic opportunities and increasing the number of jobs, preferably away from the saturated cities of Karachi and Hyderabad. Holding onto democratic ideals, we must apply innovative ideas to solving the national problems, not deepen them by outrageous mis-presentation. This is the time for good men and women of all races to come together in the greater national interest, a time to build bridges not destroy them, this is the time to compromise.

This is the time to be a Pakistani in all senses of the word!

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