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1 HISORY OF PAKISTAN

GROWTH & EVOLUTION OF MUSLIMS IN SUB-CONTINENT


The start of Muslim Empire 0r Society in sub-continent is believed to
be in 711 AD, when Muhammad Bin Qasim conquered Sindh. Before coming
to Sindh, Muslims had established their societies in other parts of the
world also. The first Muslim Society was laid down by Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) in Madina in 622 AD. After the establishment of first society,
Muslims worked to conquer other parts of the world also. In order to
achieve their goal of having Muslim Society throughout the world, Muslim
rulers made so many expansions. These expansions are discussed below.
After the death of Prophet (PBUH), the Muslim rule came in the
hands of Caliphs. The Caliph period is known as the development period of
Muslim Society into Muslim Empire. The first caliph to rule was Hazrat
Ibrahim (632-634 AD). In his period Muslim didnt go for any expansions.
The next Caliph was Hazrat Omer (634-644 AD). During this period Muslims
went for expansions in sub-continent. In 644 AD, Hazrat Omer sent Hakam
Bin Omer Talighi to conquer Makran region of Balochistan. This region was
successfully conquered. During the reign of next Caliph Hazrat Usman
(644-656 AD), Muslims conquered Tadameer. Tadameer is borderline area
of Sindh and Balochistan and is situated adjacent to Makran. At the time
of beginning of Hazrat Alis (656-661 AD) reign, a war situation was going
on. Hazrat Ali appointed Taghar Bin Zuar as the Governor of
sub-continent conquered areas.
After the Caliph period another Muslim dynasty begins, that is known
as Umayya Dynasty (661-1258 AD). They were not so much ambitious to
conquer sub-continent. Rather they preferred to capture Arab Countries
like Iraq, Iran, and Syria etc. During Umayya Period, the King
Al-Waleed (705-715 AD) once again started the expansion policy. Al-Waleed
appointed Hajaj Bin Yousuf as a Governor of Iraq and sent Muhammad Bin
Qasim for further expansions in sub-continent in 711 AD. Bin Qasim
entered via Balochistan and till 714 AD, he conquered Sindh, Multan,
Gujrat, Kathiawar and many other regions. Bin Qasim and Hajaj Bin
Yousuf were called back in 715 AD by the King Suleman (715-750 AD). All

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these three men Qasim, Yousuf and Al-Waleed were hanged in 715 AD.
Later on, Mahmood Ghaznavi (998-1030 AD) led many expansions and
conquered much more area of sub-continent. He made about 17 expansions
in the region. Earlier, Bin Qasim had established a cantonment but
Ghaznavi established a real Muslim Rule here. After Ghaznavi, Muhammad
Ghori was the next ruler. Ghori was not much more ambitious about
expansions and only focused on consolidating his role. The next Muslim
rulers were Afghans who called themselves Sultans, so the period is known
as Sultanat Period (1206-1526 AD). During Sultanat Period about five
Muslim dynasties ruled over India.
The Last ruler of Sultanat Period, Sultan Ibrahim Lodhi was
defeated by Turk ruler Zaheeruddin Babar at Pani-Pat. Babar is known as
the founder of Mughal Period. Mughals ruled over India from 1526 AD to
1857 AD. Mughals brought Turkish Sufis and Intellectuals in order to
preach Islam. Babar passed his kingship to his descended Humayoon.
Humayoon was not so much successful in maintaining the rule. His
weakness led him to loss the rule for almost five years. Humayoon was
attacked by Afghan Sher Shah Suri and as a result he was sent in prison.
After almost five years, Humayoon came back with his force, attacked
sub-continent and conquered it. Humayoon got his rule back and passed it
to his son Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar.
Akbar was very young boy when he became the King. Rajputs were
getting stronger and this was the most tensed situation for him. Akbar
tried to find out religious consensus between Muslims and Hindus. He gave
many privileges to Hindus and Muslims and got almost 500 marriages. At
that time, there were two schools of thought in the society about God.
One known as Wahdat-ul-Shahood and other was Wahdat-ul-Wajood.
Wahdat-ul-Wajood
These people had consolidated approach towards Muslims and
Islam. They believed that everything is God and according to
them there is no difference between Ram and God.

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Wahdat-ul-Shahood
This was based on expansion of Islam. They believed that
everything is from God.
Akbar himself was an uneducated person and was also ambitious to
expand his territory. He had two advisers Abul Fazal and Faizy whose
suggestions he used to approve. These both were in favor of
Wahdat-ul-Wajood, so Akbar also supported that idea. As a result he took
some sudden steps, like;
In 1562 AD, Akbar abolished tax in Hindu pilgrimage.
In 1564 AD, Dizya (Jizya) over Hindus was also abolished. This was
same as Zakat in Islam.
In 1575 AD, an Ibadat Khana was established in Fateh-pur
Akbar used to visit that Ibadat Khana frequently. Whenever he
visited, he used to call religious scholars from different religions i-e
Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhs and all present in sub-continent in
order to discuss various and bring religious consensus among all. He
himself was surrounded by the people like Abul Fazal and Faizy, who used
to encourage him for wrong doings. As a result of this Ibadat Khana, in
1579 AD, Akbar announced Deen-e-Ilahi and called it the official religion
of sub-continent. A Mazharnama was issued, through which all judicial
powers were transferred to Akbar. After this, he announced many
relaxations for Hindus. Ban on Ram, Kishan names was put off and was
imposed on Muhammad, Rehman, and Raheem. Because of his tolerance
policy towards Hindus, they started to worship him, Jharoka Darshan. He
was titled with Jalaluddin Akbar and Zill-e-Ilahi.
Muslims were so much worried with the policies of Akbar. Akbar was
very much tolerant towards all religions except Islam. At that time, a
movement started against him in Sirhind by Mojaddidi Alf Saani (1564-1624
AD). He was contemporary to Akbar. He started propagating the concept
of Wahdat-ul-Shahood and gave two nation theory concepts. He gave

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tough time to Akbar in the religious affairs.
After Akbar, Mughal Empire was transferred to Jahangir and
Shah-jahan. Islamic exclusiveness after Mughal Empire decline and Mughal
Sultanat began. Now comes the period of Shah Wali-ullah (1703-1762 AD).
It is known as later Mughal period. Muslims were suffering from many
crises and were at peak of decline in every aspect of life. That time, Shah
Wali-ullah called Ahmed Shah Abdali to defeat Rajput and bring back the
glory of Muslims in sub-continent, but they were badly failed.
Here comes the name of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898 AD), a
great Muslim scholar and intellectual of his time. The title SIR with his
name shows how much popular he was in British. He was the owner of
pro-British approach. He made policies for Britain that is why he remains
controversial figure in the Indo-Pak history. He had very logical and
rational approach. His logical approach towards everything made him
unpopular during his life in the Muslim society. According to him we can
find God in blessings, this is one form of faith. He narrated Waqai-Mairaj
in logical point of view. During those days a book was written as a
blasphemy of Prophet (PBUH) by a British scholar. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
replied to that book with his marvelous work Khutbat-e-Ahmadia. He
wrote in Risala-e-Asbab-e-Baghawat-e-Hind. Many of the intellectual
works of Sir Syed were appreciated by Britain. He had founded two schools
for the promotion of education in Allahabad and Ghaziabad.

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PAKISTANI LITERATURE AFTER 1947
Partition of 1947, was not only division of the land but also gave
birth to series of communal violence among Hindus Muslims and Sikhs. In
this violence thousands of people were killed on the both sides. People who
were friends before partition became harsh rivals of each other after
partition. People started killing, looting each other, Women were raped,
looted, killed and many of them committed suicide to get rid of the
violence. This violence was not based on anything other than partition.
Partition was called tragedy.
After independence, the earlier years of Pakistan were a period of
hectic human activity and movement of people settlement. These tragic
events left a deep impression over the minds of the intellectuals and
scholars of that time. Many of the writers who wrote about these riots
had mostly observed these woeful/sorrowful incidents as eyewitness. That
is why after partition a new genre of fiction appeared which is generally
known as Tales of Riots and described as holocaust of partition.
If we have a look at pre partition Urdu literature, we come to know
about two movements. These two movements had scholars from different
schools of thoughts. They had totally antagonistic ideas.
Progressive Writers Movement
This is also known as literature for the sake of literature
movement. In 1936, group of Urdu writers got their realization in order to
make literature more capable of modern times instead of going for Persian
or Arabic. They went for new genre of literature. They started writing
poems, novels, short stories etc. in order to meet social miseries.
Because of their contribution, this movement touched the peaks of
success in 1936.
Traditional Writers Movement
This is also known as literature for the sake of life movement. The
writers of this movement talked about people issues directly linked to

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their lives. These writers got inspiration from Mirza Ghalib, Allama Iqbal,
Hafiz Sadi and Molana Roomi.
Above both schools of thoughts contributed a lot to the literature.
About 99% of the literature written at that time was against partition
and about 1% was written in favor. In order to get right understanding
and analysis of development of Urdu literature, we need to categorize it
according to literary divisions of Urdu literature.
Poetry is spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions. The poetry
and prose differ from each other only due to use of verses. Poetry written
after 1947 was very much influenced by the tragedies and miseries of
partition. Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi expressed his sore disappointment and had
compared the dawn of freedom to a dark night. Qasmi said, Partition was
nothing except trauma for human being specially women. Another poet of
the age, Abdul Majeed Bhatti portrayed the troubles and sufferings of
those girls who were either kidnapped or killed or raped.

Hafiz Hoshyarpuri on 6th Dec 1947 recited a poem in a poetry session


of progressive writers.

After partition, many of the poets wrote in praise of Quaid-e-Azam


Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Poets wrote a lot to tribute Quaid with their poetry
thanking him for the efforts and sacrifices. Many poets also wrote to
encourage the patriotism in people. Moreover during the war of 1965, a
true national sprit arose in Pakistan. About more than 1000 poems were
written during that war. Everyone who could write, he or she wrote.
Short Story is a brief piece of prose narrative relatively shorter
than a short novel. After partition many of the writers sum up the

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tragedies of partition in short stories also Sadat Hussain Manto, Ghulam
Abbas, Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi, Imtiaz Hussain and Mumtaz Mufti wrote on
the social, psychological and emotional miseries of the people.
Sadat Hussain Manto in his short story, TOBA TAYK SINGH talked
about an insane man who could not understand the actual meaning of
partition. This person left his home and ran for the Indo-Pak border. He
was killed. This was a tragic experience for him.
Another short story is GUM SHUDA MUSAFIRON KI GARI written by
Ahmed Daud. This is also a tragic story. It is about those families who were
waiting for their relatives at the railway stations but unfortunately,
when the train arrives, relative are there but they are no more alive. The
train has brought dead bodies.
On the other hand, a few works of short stories were written about
the positivity of partition. One of them is PARMESHWAR SINGH by Ahmed
Nadeem Qasmi. In this story a Hindu Sikh brings a Muslim child to his home.
He treats that guy like his own son and the boy never feels anything.
Many of the other short stories were written by different authors
few of these short stories are, KHOL DO, RAJ-WANTI, and AMRITSAR
AZADI SE PEHLY AUR BAAD. Short stories were also written immediately
after partition was GYDANIA by Ashfaq Ahmed.
Novel word means new. In literature, novel term is used for fictions
story spread over a book of one or more than one volumes. They are many
characters and a prolonged story. Many of the writers who were the
eyewitness of the miseries/ sufferings/ troubles of the tragic incident
have expressed their harsh/ sorrowful experiences in novel form. Writing
of a novel requires much more time, therefore many novels ended and
published about a decade after the partition.
A very fine novelist, Quratulain Hyderi first moved to Pakistan and
then went back to India. Before returning to India, she wrote a novel
AAG KA DARYA. In which she shared her experience before, after and
during partition in both the countries.

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Another novelist Khadija Mastoor wrote ANSAN. In this novel, the
author has discussed the internal psychological situation of the families
who sacrificed their economic need in order to save the goal of India. This
novel is based upon pre-partition scenario. In this, the main character is
of a lady named Aliya. Her father died in imprisonment because of hitting
an English man.
Another novel based upon spiritual, emotional, psychological loss of
people is UDAAS NASLAIN by Abdullah Hussain. This novel was published in
two volumes, one volume is UDAAS NASLAIN was released in 1960s and
the second is NADAR LOG that was published before partition. It is a
story of a person who sacrificed for Pakistan. The person was first in
British army, sacrificed his arm for them, later joined Muslim league then
was sent in prison. In prison, he was tortures and suffered a lot. Second
novel NADAR LOG is the continuation of the first one UDAAS NASLAIN.
The second volume includes the incidents after partition till Zia era.
Other than above mentioned novels, many other novelists had their
contribution like KHAAK OUR KHOON by Naseem Hijazi and 15th August
by Rasheed and RAQSI-IBLIS by M. Aslam.

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CONSTITUTION MAKING IN PAKISTAN
After the partition of 1947, one of the major tasks was to make a
constitution for the newly formed country. Muhammad Ali Jinnah could not
manage his time for the purpose. There were many problems in this
process like Religious Parties interference, Geographical Distance
between East and West Pakistan, Provincial disputes. Presidential or
Parliamentary system, Refuge problem etc
Before partition, there existed two religious parties in India i.e.
Jamiat-Ulma-e-Hind and Jamait-e-Islami. After partition Jamait-e-Islami
shifted to Pakistan while Jamiat-e-Ulma-e-Hind continued in India. This
party was also a problem in constitution making because leadership
couldnt settle that what kind of system should be implemented, either a
purely religious or liberal. It was a problem, that were should we keep
Islam in our constitution? The demand of partition was actually to get
political and economic benefits because it was impossible to get our basic
rights in Hindu majority. Jamait-e-Islami, after becoming political party
started manipulating Islam. That was one of the reasons of delay in
constitution.
Pakistan, after 1947, was formed in two major divisions, one East
Pakistan and other West Pakistan. These two parts had no linking road.
The only way to link was by sea. The people of these two parts were too
different from each other in every aspect of life. They were culturally
socially and literary different, but population in both parts was almost
equal. Bengalis after 1947 started claiming their rights, when they didnt
get their legal rights they started protesting. On the other hand after
the announcement of Urdu as National language, they got much more
anger. Their all rights were continuously suppressed by Karachi. Quaid had
announced Urdu as a National Language due to its contribution in Urdu
Hindi controversy. Overall the continuous protest from the very first day
was also a main hurdle in constitution making.
The third and almost the major issue were civil conflicts in West
Pakistan. Punjabi, Sindhi, Balouchi and Pakhtoons were not happy with

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each other. Sindhi people had problems with Muhajirs. Balouchi were
having full flash feudal system. Pakhtoons on the other hand, were not
ready to join Pakistan. Bacha Khans NAP (ANP nowadays) was asking for
separation but later on he was convinced by Quaid. People were having
cultural differences from each other.
The confusion over the government system was also going on. The
political leaders were of confusion that what type of government system
should be there! Either it should be the Presidential system or
Parliamentary one. After becoming Governor General, Quaid-e-Azam had
made a constitutional assembly to run the system temporarily. It was not
a permanent solution. This confusion got worsened after the death of
Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 1948. Pakistan was failed to make its constitution
till 1956.
As a result of above major and many minor problems, the government
of Pakistan could not give any constitutional pathway to the country. But
even though few steps were taken in this prospectus, in 1949, The
Objective Resolution was passed. It provided the guideline principles on
which the future constitution of Pakistan will be planted. This stated that
sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to Allah and the authority
given by Him to the people of Pakistan is only a sacred trust. The
opposition party Pakistan National Congress raised objections on the
resolution saying that it mixed the religion with politics and that the
minorities would be reduced to status of servants and slaves.
The objective resolution was not an entire constitution. It simply
laid down the base for the future constitution. A Basic Principle
Committee was appointed on 12th March 1949. Laiquat Ali Khan was made
the chairmen of the committee. He was assigned the job to determine the
basis on which the constitution should be made. BPC then set up
sub-committees to examine and separate some important issues.
The BPC then started working for the acceptable federal system for
the country. It was very difficult task to be achieved in country like
Pakistan with so many ethnic, religious and cultural differences. Finally

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BPC put forward its first draft constitution on 28th September 1950.
This proposal was made by BPC and was presented in assembly by the
first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan. The draft suggested
that there should be a federal legislature consisting of two houses i-e
Upper House of the Units and Lower House of People. House of units
represented units and the house of people to be directly elected by the
people. Upper house should be consisted of equal number of
representatives from all provinces and the lower house representation
should be on population basis. Both the houses were given equal powers, in
case of dispute on any issue a joint session should be summoned. The head
of the state, Prime Minister was to be selected by both Houses. A cabinet
of members would be given to the Prime Minister for assistance in
different state matters. The Prime Minister and his cabinet were given
the responsibility of both Houses. The draft was approved and was finally
published in 1950.
The approval of this draft gave birth to strong protest in East
Pakistan. Protestors argued that it was an incomplete constitution as it
lacked the Islamic Character according to Objective Resolution. The
leadership of East Pakistan was of view that it gave them overall minority
in the joint session of the two Houses. The assembly declared Urdu as only
national language of Pakistan which was strongly rejected by East
Pakistan. The opposition from East Pakistan compelled the assembly to
drop-down this draft. The assembly got engaged in making new draft.
After Liaquat Ali Khans assassination on 16th October 1951 in
Rawalpindi, the responsibility of making constitution fell on the weak
shoulders of the second Prime Minister Khuwaja Nazimuddin. He presented
the second draft constitution to the constitutional assembly on 20th
December 1952. This draft was called as Parity Proposal because it brought
East Pakistan at par in the central legislature. According to this draft 60
members were to be from East Pakistan and 60 from West Pakistan in
Upper House and 200 members. In lower House, 200 members were to be
East Pakistan and 200 from West Pakistan.

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This draft was favorable for the East Pakistan than its predecessor.
This time, a severe reaction was given by West Pakistan. The point was
that one single province East Pakistan was given equal importance to all
other provinces put together. On the other side, East Pakistan was also
not accepting the principle of parity; they thought that they were not
given representation according to their numeric majority. The one point
that was equally criticized by both East & West Pakistan was formation of
Ulema Board to look after the central and provincial legislation. Ulema
Board was to be set up outside the parliament that had the authority to
veto any decision of parliament in the light whether it was Islamic or not.
According to BPC report this his whole situation resulted in
Punjabi-Bangali crisis. Despite the BPC report, Khuwaja Nazimuddin called
this draft as the most acceptable draft throughout the country, called it
the sun which illuminates the sky. Many of the BPC members refused to
put their signatures on the draft. This was again a deadlock in
constitution making. The constitutional assembly once again postponed
the process for infinite period and the country was running without any
constitution. No solution seemed to be accepted by East & West Pakistan.
The country was suffering from a political deadlock situation.
The political deadlock was unblocked by the removal of Khuwaja
Nazimuddin on 16th April 1953 and appointment of Muhammad Ali Bogra as
the Prime Minister of Pakistan. That time Bogra was working as the
ambassador of Pakistan in US. He was elected Prime Minister by Muslim
League. Within less than six months of his appointment, Bogra presented
third draft constitution on 7th October 1953. This draft is known as the
Muhammad Ali Formula. He claimed support from both wings.
Muhammad Ali divided legislative assembly in two houses i-e Upper
House and Lower House. All the provinces along with East Pakistan were
given 10 seats each in Upper House, and different number of seats in
Lower House. East Pakistan was given 165, Punjab 75, Sindh 19, NWFP 24,
and Baluchistan was given 17 seats in lower house. East Pakistan was
leading with 165 seats. If the Head of state was from East Pakistan the

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PM shall be from West Pakistan and vice versa. He brought a compromise
over the language issue between East & West Pakistan. He suggested
equal status for both languages as official languages. English was
continued as official language until the growth of common languages.
The suggestions of Muhammad Ali formula were thoroughly studied
by constitutional assembly for about thirteen days. On 14th November 1953,
a drafting committee was appointed to finally prepare the draft for the
approval. With successfully handling the issues, the framers of the
constitution moved faster towards adopting the constitution. Assembly
successfully adopted the file by November 1954.
The constituent assembly could not complete its mission. Within ten
days of the adoption of the final draft, the assembly was dissolved by
Governor-General. Undemocratic dissolution of the constituent assembly
involved Pakistan is a series of legal disputes and constitutional crisis. The
dissolution was due to some political reasons. Muslim League was defeated
in general election in East. It therefore, lost its majority and was unable
to pass the draft. Slowly it was losing its worth in western wing also.
In addition to the political situation emerging after the election,
constitutional assembly took a number of steps that invited
Governor-Generals involvement. Assembly replaced PRODA; law that gave
authority to Government to expose corrupt Ministers and politicians.
Assembly also went to scrap the sections that gave the authority to
Governor-General to dismiss the government at any time. These steps
were taken actually to curtail the powers of Governor-General and saving
some specific persons. The Governor-General earlier was not aware of
this all but when he came to know he rushed to Karachi to hit back against
the actions of the assembly. He dissolved first constitutional assembly on
24th October 1954, and declared state of emergency throughout Pakistan.
All attempts of forming constitution were brought to an end by the
supreme authority of the country. The assembly didnt welcome the
emergency; they filed a petition in Sindh High Court. The Court declared
dissolution as null and avoid. The federation of Pakistan appealed to

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Supreme Court that gave decision in the favor of the Governor-General.
Governor-General after dissolving constitutional assembly again invited
Muhammad Ali Bogra to form new Ministry. The new Cabinet had some old
and some new faces. General Ayoub Khan and Maj: General Iskandar Mirza
ware included in the cabinet. Induction of these two Army officers paved
the way for Military involvement in politics.
The second constitutional assembly was set up in 1955 elected from
the existing provincial assemblies. No political party could achieve a simple
majority to form the government. So, a coalition government was formed
in the Prime Ministry of Chaudhary Muhammad Ali. Muhammad ali Bogra
was sent back as ambassador to U.S.A. The new Prime Minister gave first
priority to constitution making and continued the efforts. His first
achievement was the abolishment of old subdivisions and amalgamation of
provinces into One Unit. He presented 4th draft constitution before the
Assembly on 8th January 1956. The draft was finally approved and adopted
by the Assembly on 29th February 1956. The Governor-General approved it
on 2nd March 1956. On 23rd March 1956, Constitution was implemented and
Pakistan was declared a Republic. In this way indefinite era of
constitutional settlement and public confusion came to an end.

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REGIONALISM & SEPARATISM
Pakistan is one of the worlds most ethnically (culturally) &
linguistically complex states. Each of its provinces is associated with a
single ethno linguistic group; Punjab with Punjabis, Sindh with Sindhi,
Baluchistan with Balochis and Khyber Pakhtoonkhuwah (NWFP) with
Pashtuns. These groups are identified by their cultural differences; often
claim of being a nation. In December 1971, Pakistan became the 1st
state to be divided on language basis with the formation of Bangladesh. At
the same time various independence movements began in the provinces
also with the support of neighboring countries; NWFP to Afghanistan,
Baluchistan to Afghanistan & Iran both and sindh to India. Another group
was Kashmir seeking independence from both Pakistan and India.
Pakistan originally comprised of five major ethno linguistic groups.
These were Bengalis, Punjabis, Sindhi, Balochis and Pashtuns. The Urdu
speaking migrants, the Muhajirs, became the sixth group. The leaders of
the new state assumed that Jinnahs leadership and a common faith would
override any differences among the different groups. But the creation of
Bangladesh strengthened several existing separatist movements. Outside
Punjab, there were movements a sindhudesh, an independent Baluchistan;
a NWFP tied to Afghanistan and even (for the Muhajirs) a separate
Karachi.
Migration creates strange bedfellows Karachi; once a cosmopolitan
but Sindhi dominated city is no more a Sindhi city after decades of
migration. The problem for Sindhi began with the migration of Urdu
speaking Muhajirs from India to Karachi, Hyderabad and other areas of
sindh. Their identity as Muhajirs was strengthened with Urdu becoming a
national language. By 1951, Sindhi speaking population the province had
decline to 67% from 87% and in Karachi Muhajirs had dominated with 57%...
legendary, G.M Syed who once had supported Pakistan movement, felt
Punjab, Muhajirs domination and called for a separate Sindhi nation till
his death in 1995. Sindhis had many reservations over one unite scheme
1955, almost of million acres of their land to non Sindhi esp.: retired

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military officers and beurocrates (Punjab & Muhajirs), violation of
pre-independent
water
agreement
with
Punjab
and
also
under-representation in civil services nationalist movement evolved. With
the slogan of sindhudesh (land of Sindhi) and was suppressed by the
government of Pakistan.
Muhajirs were the part of Pakistans elite class until organized in
1970s. During first twenty years of independence, they were only 3% of
population but held 21% of government jobs and were prominent in army.
Seven of twelve biggest business houses were controlled by Muhajirs.
Muhajirs introduced student organization in 1978, which later was
converted into a political party Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in 1984.
From the mid-1980s onward, the QM, led by Altaf Hussain, developed
tightly organized political party which had a penchant for torture,
kidnapping and murder. After migration, Karachi had 5.5 million Urdu
speaking; 2 million Punjabis, 1.5 million Pashtoons and less 1 million were
Sindhi and balochis. It became a major cause of ethnic rivalry.
The separatist group that is the largest threat to Pakistan even
today is Pashtuns nationalist movement. It was active even before
Pakistans creation. (NWFP) had a popular leader Khan Abdul Ghaffar
Khan, known as frontier Ghandhi for support of nonviolent organization
Red Shirts. He demanded provincial independence because of fear that
Muslins leaving India will come and dominate us. Frontier Ghandi demanded
and received referendum but Lord Mountbatten refused this option, and
KPK (NWFP) voted for Pakistan. Ghaffar Khan boycotted the vote. The
movements continued and in recent past Taliban provided perfect
instrument to forever end the idea of Pakhtoonistan. The Taliban were
directly supporked by Pakistan Intelligence and indirectly by Islamist
Parties. Pakhtoonistan movement may still emerge but it is difficult to
predict whether the supporters will be Pakistan, Pashtuns or Afghanistan.
The Balouch tribes are settled on black lands that unite Pakistan,
Afghanistan and Iran. Balouch separatism was the brainchild of a few
tribal chiefs (sardars) and a student organization. Balouchis have their

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own autonomous history that has not even changed during Britain rule.
They are weakly organized in modern term with literacy ratio of 24%
(female 5%). They are fighting against Pakistan Military since
independence. They went for two wars in 1948 that ended in Baluch
surrender. Later on, after the dismissed of Governor Mir Ghaus Bakhsh
Bizanjo and C.M Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal in Bhuttos government,
again a mini war began. Baloch were very weak that time about 7000
families took refuge in Afghanistan. All in all, Baluchistan is an unlikely
candidate for a successful separatist movement, even if there are
grievances against Punjab dominated Pakistan. It lacks a middle class and
modern leadership.
Along with above major ethnic groups, there are some small groups
also one of them is Siraiki. Siraiki speaking region is located in southern
Punjab and northern sindh. It is a district language spoken by both Sindhi
& Punjabi. They claim to be faith of Pakistans population but are probably
about 10%. Some of their leaders claim they would be better if separated
from Punjab. Other separatists movements are Kashmir and northern
areas Kashmir as well as Gilgit Baltistan and other northern areas are
unlikely to leave Pakistan, yet grievances do exist.
Conversations with leading Sindhi intellectual and politicians reveal
that regional conflict is largely the fault of militaristic Punjabi leaders,
who will never normalize relations with India as they want to maintain a
large army. Punjab is Pakistans wealthiest and most popular province,
with a commanding position in Pakistan army and politics.
The focal point of Punjabi domination was and remains the army. 75%
of the army is from three Punjab districts (Jhelum, Rawalpindi,
Campbellpur) and two adjacent districts of NWFP (Kohat & Mardan).
Another reason offered for Punjabs dominance is its strategic value,
which is that every country has a heart or core area, which in Pakistans
case is Punjab, whereas the other three provinces constitute invasion
routes. When one province is so much powerful than the others, as in the
Punjab even a fair representation of its embers in the armed forces may

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18 HISORY OF PAKISTAN
give the appearance of conspiracy.

JAMSHED SHABIR

19 HISORY OF PAKISTAN
FEUDALISM IN PAKISTAN
Capitalism is something in which self-interest is prevailed.
Feudalism is something in which specific persons or given various
gifts esp. large area of cultivated agricultural lands) in order to
achieve desired goals.
Till the end of 20th century, Pakistan have feudal attitude in every
aspect of life either it is social or political. The label feudal is assigned
to those who own a very large area of cultivated land. The national and
provincial assemblies are Pakistan is full of feudal.
Different groups of people have different views about British in
invasion in India. Some say that British rule awakened the Indian
subcontinent from its slumber. While some believe that this rule was cruel
because the underdevelopment that is found in certain areas of
sub-continent is the result of that colonial system. India was a pre
capitalist social formation when the British rule came about.
In pre-British time, whole the land was owned by the Mughal King.
Any kind of permission about land was granted by king. In 1647,
Mansabdar or nobles post was created, about 8,000 people were
appointed. Manabdars had to maintain army and in return were paid salary
and were granted certain lands, to collect revenue for state. Mughals had
introduced three kinds of revenue extraction system in 1570 under
Akbars rule;
1. Jagidars; they were officers rather than feudal lords.
2. Zamindar; they were influential persons from each village. They also
used to collect revenue on the behalf of king.
3. Khalisa; they were those from which revenue secured to state
directly.
Soon after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the Mughal Empire began
to decay. At the same time, the zamindars & Jagidars tried to strengthen

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20 HISORY OF PAKISTAN
their power by increasing their hold on the peasants. They did it
successfully to some extent.
With the decay of Mughal Empire, British had started controlling the
greater part of the South Asia in the middle of 18th century. British
introduced colonial system here. Sindh was annexed with Britain in 1843,
for this British had granted ownership rights on large tracts of lands to
Mirs. Other influentrals were also awarded similar grants as long as they
accepted new rulers. After successful expansion, Britain went for
changes in every field; there were three major institutional changes;
1. Private property institute introduced.
2. Introduction of legal system related to ownership of property.
3. They established an Efficient Government by giving land and
property rights to every citizen.
Along with this all, the principle of inheritance, guaranteed rights
and the privilege of succession were implemented. They also introduced
monetary tax that was made compulsory to be paid. This led the people
to sell their crops in the market. A new market for agriculture emerged.
People started working hard. As a result, Sindh that was not producing
cotton at the time of British Conquest produced 4,000 tons during
1873-74. Same was the case in Punjab that grew 30 times more wheat in
1880s than in 1886s.
As the commercialization of agriculture continued, many of the small
landowners (peasants) started selling or mortgaging their lands in order
to pay taxes Zamindars and Jagidars were to pay taxes on follow land as
well as cultivated land. Many of the people protested against this in Sindh
and Punjab. As a result series of acts and law were passed during 1870 and
1870 to protect the rights of landowners.
1. Taxation law was revised and landowners were now asked to pay tax
cultivated land only.
2. In 1900, Punjab land Alienation act was passed which banned the

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21 HISORY OF PAKISTAN
transfer of lands from agricultural to non-agricultural castes.
Moreover, the British started the canal civilization. More than 80%
of Punjab irrigated land was provided canal system within two decades.
This resulted is the growth of production also.
Along with this all, the landlordism had reached its extreme level in
Sindh & Punjab. Till 1939, landowners were controlling about 38% of the
arable land. The landlords used to parcel out their lands to Muzareen or
Haris for cultivation. They had some system of share to each other.
As a conclusion, we can say that till 1947, Pakistan agricultural
economy was pre capitalistic. Imran Ali writes that there was an absence
of agricultural revolution in the region. Quantitative increase was not
accompanied by qualitative charge; process of agricultural colonization
made Punjab the most important area of commercial farming in Asia. He
concludes that agriculture remained feudal or pre capitalistic under the
Britain.

JAMSHED SHABIR

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