MOHAJIRS IN THE EVOLUTION OF PAKISTAN
MOHAJIRS TURNED PAKISTAN INTO A SECTARIAN STATE
The unviable economic condition, sectarianism, religious extremism, and rampant corruption that bedevil the state of Pakistan today has much to do with the steps taken in its formative decades from 1947.
Active support of the Pakistani army and society to multiple terrorist organisations has been the result of its adoption of Salafist philosophy. Sectarian aspects in the constitution of Pakistan , ‘othering’ Shias, Ahmadis, Hindus and Christians is the direct result of induction of Wahabism by the Muhajirs.
The Muslim League, responsible for the formation of Pakistan in 1947 carried a baggage of religious rhetoric that was fundamentalist. It became increasingly difficult for the elite who ruled Pakistan in the initial decades to continue on the path of democracy and build viable political institutions.
Abdication by the civil society in the formation and sustenance of political institutions allowed the Pakistani army to take over the administration of the state of Pakistan in its entirety. Pakistani Army in its bid to hold on to power has over the decades waded into every aspect of Pakistani polity and governance. The responsibility and the power to rule the state of Pakistan has been taken over in its entirety from the civil institutions including the judiciary. The civilian population has lost the ability and the will to wrest control from the Pakistani army. The process of civilian abdication appears final and irreversible.
Dependence of the political fraternity, and the army on religious parties and proponents of Salafi-Wahabi philosophy led Pakistan into becoming not only a rentier state but also one that openly espouses terrorism.
Pakistan is a state bearing an Acronym that stands for parts of the Indian subcontinent. The acronym is formed by the first letters of the erstwhile states of Punjab, Afghanistan[1][2], Kashmir with ’stan’ suffixed to render it somewhat meaningful and understandable to the public in the mid twentieth century. Bengal which was also partitioned in 1947 on religious lines was not on the canvas for the original ideators of the Two nation Theory.
Today in 2024 the state of Pakistan encompasses areas of West Punjab, forcibly occupied areas of Baluchistan , Kashmir , Gilgit-Baltistan and the usurped parts of Afghanistan east of Durand Line. Subsequent to years of oppression and bloody battles, the Bengali people of ‘East Pakistan’ , managed to dislodge and overthrow the West Pakistani elite with its unabashed contemptuous coloniser mindset.
Prior 1947 Two generations in India had been influenced by the Salafi Wahabi definition of a ‘true Muslim’ . This gave impetus to the Muslim league to go forth to the Muslims in the subcontinent in a big way after 1941, when the idea of Pakistan was mooted and accepted by the Muslim League
Muhajirs in Pakistan form the fifth largest ethnics, thirty million (disputed) in a population of approximately 250 million, up from 1948 when they were estimated to be around 14.7 million.
Both Fact and fiction are replete with writings by historians and novelists on the formation of Pakistan. Any one impartially looking back at the last seven decades of Pakistani history, covering its troubled past cannot but wonder how a small percentage of migrants from the erstwhile India influenced every aspect of the Pakistani polity, policies, business, and the people.
Bengali Muslims had initially floated the idea of Pakistan, it grew on the fertile soil of Uttar Pradesh, moulded into a weapon, identified by the name ‘Two Nations Theory’ by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, it ensured the birth of Pakistan through the violent dismemberment of the Indian subcontinent.
Migrants flowed into the newly created state of Pakistan from East Punjab, United Provinces, Bihar, and Bengal in large numbers. Many also came from the then presidency of Bombay , Central Provinces, Hyderabad, and from other parts of undivided India.
Though fewer in number compared to the natives of the regions (they moved into Sind, Punjab and NWFP) they wielded great influence in the formulative years, thanks to possessing higher education, dominance in politics, bureaucracy, and the police forces. They were comparatively persons of substance and well versed in business.
The newly formed government of Pakistan was headed by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who had himself moved from Bombay. Initially the bustling port of Karachi in Sind was the capital. (shifted initially to Rawalpindi & Islamabad in 1967)
It is a matter of history, how a prosperous Punjab with thriving businesses and excellent educational institutions (with a population approx. 52 % Muslims and 48% non-Muslims, as per census report of 1941), was turned into an abattoir by the activities of the Muslim League. The leaders of Muslim League hailed mostly from Bengal and UP.
These Muslim Leaguers from Bengal and United Provinces moved to the newly created state of Pakistan and carried with them the hatred for Hindus and contempt for their heritage. Over three generations their ideas have shaped and moulded Pakistan and brought it to the present level .
Muhajirs, (Muslims who migrated to the newly created country of Pakistan from various provinces of British ruled Indian subcontinent) considered themselves to be the true representatives of Muslim identity in the subcontinent, following the example of those, who a millennium earlier had moved from Mecca to Medina with their revered Prophet Mohammad.
Muhajirs, the initial migrants and their progeny have had to face the resentment that had been built up over decades in the local communities. It was natural for them to adopt ways and means to project themselves as creators of the state of Pakistan, a haven for all Muslims in the subcontinent, but also to prove that they had initiated the right steps in achieving the goal of an independent country of Pakistan.
Muhajirs were anxious to prove that their philosophy of the Two Nation Theory was not only correct and justified , but it also had the backing of the entire Muslim community in the world and was considered an asset by the western powers who dominated the world economically, politically, and militarily.
The original residents of Punjab, Sind and NWFP soon realized that the migrants had taken control over the land and the government. Special quotas were introduced in various educational and institutions favouring the newly arrived outsiders. Locals were sidelined in educational institutions and the Bureaucracy. The resentment at the migrants was a natural consequence.
Individuals like Maulana Maududi and preachers from the Deobandi and Brelvi schools had been won over to the Wahabi philosophy.
Idea of the Two Nation Theory was the natural outcome of the schism that has been propagated by Salafists & Wahabis since centuries. Individuals like Maulana Maududi a Muslim scholar who migrated to Pakistan on its formation, represented a growing adherence to the belief system that separated Mohammadans from others and actively spread the idea of a ‘Muslim Umma’ that not only transcended the borders but also refused to accept any reasonable interaction with Non-Muslims. [1]
Maududi formed the Jamaat e Islami on the same Islamic philosophy of the Muslim Brotherhood, formed by Al Banna, in Egypt. His party colluded with the Pakistani elite to turn Pakistan into a theocratic state.
Maulana Maududi firmly believed that “ Jihad should be used to eliminate un-Islamic rule everywhere and establish a worldwide Islamic state”. Maududi’s first work at the age of twenty-four came to public attention through Al Jihad fil-Islam (“Jihad in Islam”), its essentials, passed on through generations of Pakistanis form the basis for the present political philosophy and the sectarianism of the Pakistani citizenry and state. The motto of the Pakistani army was changed by General Zia Ul Haq, (a Muhajir from Jalandhar), today emphasises Jihad and is ‘Iman, Taqwa, Jihad fi Sabilillah’.
The Muhajirs considered it necessary to distance themselves from their past and establish a new identity for the country and people of the newly created political state of Pakistan based on religion. The elite among Mujahirs therefore decided to reject any association with the history and culture of the subcontinent, and proceeded to claim to be the legitimate progeny, and inheritors of the Muslim conquerors from the distant lands of Arabia, Mongolia, Persia, and Afghanistan and Turkey..
Through a strange quirk of logic, the Muhajirs turned looters, foreigners, and marauders of the subcontinent into heroes’ worthy of glory and emulation.
They identified the state of Pakistan to a Mohammad Bin Kasim of Arabia who had come raiding in 714 AD. They proclaimed their idols to be Mohammad of Ghazni, Ghori, Nadir Shah and the Moguls who occupied the Delhi throne for two centuries. The fact that these ‘heroes’ were actually villains of the worst kind and that they slaughtered the innocents in Panjab and the Indo Gangetic plains, looted towns, and villages, raped and enslaved thousands of women, carted off booty , and marched off men, women, and children to be sold as slaves in the markets of Kandahar , Bukhara and Bagdad was portrayed as great feats. These evil men were projected as nobles in service of Islam and presented as their forefathers.
That the Pakistanis look up to the USA and Europeans as saviours and role models even today, seven decades after the formation of the state of Pakistan is an indication of subservient mindset inculcated into a Pakistani.
REALITIES OF PAKISTANI WAHABISM
The adverse effects of Salafi Wahabi influence on young minds in the thousands of Madrassas, receiving funds from the middle east in India are being hidden from public especially the Hindu community.
Nationalist Indians have to understand that shared history, cultures including language and food habits have been unable to withstand the onslaught of religious fundamentalism and fanatism inculcated over generations in Pakistan.
The deep hatred for India and Hindus in the mindset of Pakistanis resulting from the Wahabi philosophy inculcated through their Madrassas and ‘Pakistani Studies’ is a fact that is not publicly acknowledged.
The fact that Pakistan has become a jihadi state through its greed for American dollars which has made it a rentier state and the middle east Wahabi embrace has to be understood by Indians.
The damage done to Pakistani society and its body politic over the last seven decades by the Muhajirs is permanent and irreversible.
Fantasies of Indo -Pak amity, talks and trade opportunities, ‘forget past mayhems by Pakistani terrorists and move forward’ are pure propaganda aimed to fool naïve and gullible Indians.
Indians especially Hindus need to realise that there is no putting the clock back. Pakistan considers India to be its enemy and every living Hindu a reason for Jihad.
LESSONS FOR BHARAT
The anti-Hindu stance of the Congress party, the DMK, SP, TMC and RJD has come out clearly in the recent election rhetoric. The reversal to the days of appeasement politics is a surety if the parties believing in Indian Nationalism like the BJP, or Shiv Sena do not come back to power in the centre.
APPEASEMENT policies of Congress and its allies has led to sectarianism in the Indian society. It does not allow integration of Muslims into the idea of an Indian heritage and culture. Vote bank politics of Congress party and its allies has divided the society by religion, castes and sub castes.
It continues to be fashionable in India for self styled liberals claiming to be Hindu to flaunt foreign ideologies. The right to free speech promoted by the tolerant Hindu majority in India is routinely misused for Hindu baiting, and spewing venom against Hindu traditions and customs.
These Self styled ‘liberals’ also preach that it is the sole responsibility of the Hindus and Indian Muslims to adjust to the depredations of Jihadis. Their hearts melt for terrorist Hamasis and Kasabs when they are brought to justice and made to answer for their crimes..
You are an ‘intellectual’ if you take pride in not only not learning from history, but to deny the atrocities and massacres of Hindus at the hands of looters, marauders, and religious fanatics.
Marxist historians in league with Jihadis in sheep’s clothing have over decades distorted Indian history to hide truths, and openly spread falsehood. Open discussions on the basic tenets of religions that exist and are practiced in India have been shunned, as divisive, thus not allowing the true aspects of negativity and othering aggressively pronounced and promoted by proponents of Abrahamic religions.
While national feelings of a Chinese , Russian or an American is perfectly justified, a Hindu proud of being from Bharat is painted as an evil brute.
A Hindu should be an ‘Achha Baccha’, not even complain when terrorists attack Bharat , and terrorist operations as in 26/11 are carried out with impunity. A Hindu is a troublemaker when he seeks justice for the Pandits driven out from their homes in Kashmir. Lutyens’ liberals advocate that Love jihads are liberating Hindu women from patriarchy and should be encouraged.
At long last we have a government in India under Narendra Modi, that is completely nationalist in outlook and places Indian interests above party and personal interests.
The continued anti Indian propaganda churned out by the western media and the political parties and leftist groups in India to paint Sanathana Dharma, indicates close cooperation among them to destabilise and destruct the Hindu Society.
There are continuous efforts to belittle Indian achievements in the fields of economy, science and space.
Public is aghast at the special favours shown by the highest courts of the land to a few favourites. Parroting quotes from foreign ideologies, and false equations with western approaches to societal norms from gender to worship, rights to justice indicate the pervasive influence of western power brokers and fixers.
Even so Bharat watches with great hope the results of the 2024 elections.
[1] He vehemently criticized and condemned all the schemes and programs of the Congress aimed to absorb the Muslims of the subcontinent into a common nationhood and lead them astray from the path of Islam. https://storyofpakistan.com/maulana-abu-ala-maududi/
[1] The All-India Muslim League was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when some well-known Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcontinent. Wiki
[2] Parts of Afghanistan east of Durand Line also known as Afhghania, present FATA, formerly NWFP