The Mohajir Identity.
In 1947, it was not the birth of a new nation alone but a new identity that made strides throughout Pakistan’s political Arena and social landscape as well. However, the Identity being fixated with a political Entity allowed it to be dissolved with it. Mohajirs ruled Pakistan and then lost Pakistan but again regained power through a political entity known as MQM.
Surprisingly, being less in number as compared to other people, our national language was Urdu and not Bengali. Our first prime minister was Liqauiat Ali Khan, an Urdu Speaking. Then why did Mohajir claim to be marginalized and how come a political entity as big as MQM came out of it?
The word Muhajir means immigrants in the literal sense. Most people who migrated from India to Pakistan were because of the riots and there were many well settled and educated Muslims from the herd as well. A reason to believe this theory is, to even travel in that time, you did require knowledge regarding routes and the dominant media being printed, you had to be literate as well. It’s safe to say that people who migrated were educated but the ratio of literate people is still debatable.
People who identify themselves as Mohajirs are mostly found in the area of Sindh and specifically in the Old Capital Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur. The majority of the people are found in Karachi. Why so? Most of the economic opportunities were easy to find in Karachi as it was the capital city and a metropolitan one as well. Moreover, the educated immigrants required a breeding ground for their skill set which Karachi accommodated them with. The Punjab side was a mere reflection of the Indian Punjab as ethically both sides were similar but religiously different.
The 1951 Census showed that there were about 7.22 million immigrants in Pakistan out of a population of 30 million people in Pakistan which excluded many of the individuals who didn't identify themself as Mohajirs as they settled from east to west Punjab in the partition which only changed their location but their culture was the same. Immigrants who claimed to be Mohajirs were the ones who spoke Urdu. Soon after the educated class of Hindu’s Departure from these areas built up a vacuum of professionals that was filled up with the immigrants.
Now let’s visit a fact sheet that might draw a proper map.
Fact Sheet.
- The indigenous of Sindh had a literacy rate of 10% as compared to the immigrants they had a literacy rate of 70%
- . An account from the political office showed Mohajirs and Punjabi speaking refugees had occupied 18 out of 27 offices of governor-general/president, prime minister, provincial, governors and chief ministers
- . In 1978, being less than 8% of the population of Pakistan, Mohajirs held 33.5% gazette positions. In 1968, the military was dominated by Mohajirs as they held 11 out of 48 (23%) of senior positions (ranks above brigadier).
- However, Sindhi being double in a population comprised 2.7% of gazette employees. 4.3% of the secretariat and 3.6% of the executives in public enterprises. In 1968, there was no account of Sindhi’s found in military
Mohajirs had dominated every arena in Pakistan and were overrepresented on merit. The people of Sindh were farmers and were never involved in these urban activities. Then why did Mohajirs bother to fight and formulate a party? Everything was leaning in their favor.
The Mohajirs felt distant when Fatima Jinnah stood for elections and was shunned by Ayub Khan. Soon Ayub Khan decided to change the location of the Capital as well from Karachi to Islamabad. More close to the GHQ. This sowed a seed of resentment in Mohajirs.
The final blow was by Bhutto when he came in Power. He brought in the Quota system in the government and Nationalized the industries in Pakistan. The nationalization of Industries meant that private ownership was revoked. From the 12 riches business groups of Pakistan, 7 were of immigrants and the 7 of the industries were in Sindh alone. To this day, it’s a rare sight to find anyone beside Urdu speaking or memon in the business community. Quota system meant that rural people secured a certain amount of seats on the basis of their domicile.
In Sindh, he made Sindhi the provincial language and brought it inboard papers as well. The victims of his measures were Muhajir people and the beneficiaries were rural Sindhi people.
There onwards, Mohajirs only knew one thing that was Bhutto is unfit to rule over Pakistan. Zia was the next in line and used all of his guns to bring down Bhutto. In the next elections, Bhutto was accused of rigging elections and eventually, tensions grew where the next martial law was imposed. After the martial law, friction between Sindhi and the forces grew. Followed up by the death penalty of Bhutto. To consolidate his own rule, Zia favoured the Urdu Speaking community to break PPP’s Dominance in Sindh. From a student organization named APMSO, grew out an entire party called MQM under Zia’s rule.
There were multiple factors that gave the party and idea its rapid fame but if anyone could point to one incident where MQM exponentially grew would be after the Qasba Aligarh Incident. A schoolgirl named Bushra became a victim of a bus race and there onwards the riots spread like a wildfire. The Minibus driver was a Phastun and the girl who lost her life was a Mohajir. In reaction to the incident, authorities cracked down on the Pashtuns drug cartels and it was suspected that informants would be the common enemy; Mohajirs. This led to the killing spree of Qasba Aligarh where 400 people were shot dead in less than 2 hours.
The unimaginable brutality blurred out the mohajirs and made this a humanitarian issue. People wanted a platform to grief upon the gone and save the future from these atrocities MQM ticked all the boxes and won the local body elections from Karachi and Hyderabad. Those lives lost became the pillar of MQM to legitimize violence in its active years.
Zia’s plane crash was a tragedy moaned by the entire nation but it was detrimental for MQM as well. MQM was under the shadow of Zia but now it was tested in the open field for once. The next election campaigns were designed to cash ethnicity and sympathy of Lives lost. PPP had Sindhi’s to moan over Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Zia’s suppressive era and MQM had Mohajirs to sympathize with 1947 and Qasba Ali Grah. The results reflected the campaign as Mohajirs won the Urban Sindh and PPP the Rural Sindh.
PPP to formulate its government required the piece that fell in the lap of MQM. They joined hands against Punjab to form the government. The relationship was short-lived due to ethnic differences. MQM broke up their alliance to go solo. MQM tried to renew its party’s identity by renaming the party from Mohajir Qoumi Movement to Mutihidda Qoumi Movement. This automatically increased the party audience.
MQM’s rapid growth in the political arena wasn’t a fluke but required rigorous planning, unlawful acts, and unconditional support from multiple allies. The allies were a very controversial topic as it started as a pet project by few students and grew into a full-fledged party overnight. Especially in an era of dictatorship. If not supported, then other parties were evidently suppressed which allowed MQM to grow on steroids. In the future, many controversial figures were found with MQM such as India.
Unlawful acts were targeted killings and illegal exhortation that heavily started out in the urban centers. People who were true to the cause were seen to be deviating from MQM and the consequences for disloyalty caught fame soon as well. The people trapped had exhausted all their options. These inhumane acts ruined MQM’s image.
Soon, the boiling pot had to react and the reaction came as the operation clean up in 1992. Altaf Hussain had sensed where this would lead to and their onwards we find him fled from Pakistan to this day.
However, MQM was able to stand up again in 1997 when it emerged as the 2nd largest party in Sindh. The power in hand was of no use, as the policies developed were directly against their motives. The final nail in the coffin for MQM’s image was when Hakim Saeed was murdered.
MQM was breathing its last breath when Mushraff imposed martial law and came into power. It allowed MQM to buy more time to survive in the urban centers. Mustafa Kamal’s service to Karachi made MQM the necessary evil of Sindh's urban areas and bought MQM 10 years more.
The 2007 elections and 2014 elections were on the same lines. There were minute details to ponder upon but the main take out was the MQM’s fame was declining at a growing rate. The Mohajir Identity did not hold relevance as it did previously. Official Authorities had to clear up Sindh’s urban areas to create a more attractive investment to our neighbor China. To break down, MQM and their Ex-Members came out and confronted the reality of MQM. Many of its members were thrown into jail and some took it as a sign and fled the country.
The army who started this party had to pull the plug this way. It’s your own demons that eventually consume you.