With or Without Musharraf – A Mohajir’s Perspective

#663 by HisExcellency on April 18, 2007 12:53pm PT
{``The trouble with Salim`s version of history is that it is ``His Story``. This is the kind of writing that one can associate with Slobodan Milosevic or perhaps Cho Seung-Hui. ``}

Surely you can`t be serious, Your Excellency. Is this some subtle desire of yours to compare me with dead villains - I hope that you don`t detest e that much. So, who now is making extravagant and outlandish comparisons?

{``Mohajirs appear in this story as a savior class, that single handedly created Pakistan. Never mind that Punjabis comprised the bulk of this country and bore the brunt of bloody partition. ``}

Once again you are mistaken. At the time of the bloody partition, the bulk of this country was comprised of Bengalis and NOT Punjabis - but you guys changed that within 24 years. So, who now is cooking the books and fudging with the numbers? :(

{``The Urdu language, spoken by 2% of the population, is declared national language of Pakistan. Never mind that Punjabis accept this language without protest (unlike the Bengalis) despite being 70% of West Pakistani population. ``}

Will you please leave the poor Urdu language alone? It`s bad enough that you guys constantly butcher this sweet language, but do you have to whine about how bhayyas from UP and Bihar ``forced`` you guys to ditch your own Punjutalk and adopt Urdu as your language. If we Mohajirs had our way, we would have ``forced`` some TEHZEEB into you instead of Urdu. So, who now is manufacturing perceived abuses?

{``Mohajirs next bless this country by taking over its businesses, evacuee property, educational institutions and bureaucracy. Never mind that they refuse to allocate public funds to agriculture, which employs 60% of the workforce and 70% of GDP. ``}

So now the Mohajirs took over Pakistan, its businesses, its institutions, and then looted, killed, murdered, raped, and tortured poor hapless Sikhs and Hindus - driving out the surviving ones into India? Come on, Your Excellency, you know that this is an evil lie and that you are going to have to pay for this malicious act in the hereafter. :( We all know that the terrible suffering, slaughter, rape, and abduction were perpetrated on the Sikhs and Hindus of West Punjab by Muslim Punjabis. So, who now is rewriting history to suit one`s conclusions?

{``All is bliss in Salim`s Pakistan because Mohajirs are running the country from Karachi.
But then suddenly an evil Pathan president decides to move the capital from Karachi to Islamabad, just to suppress Mohajirs. Never mind that in other countries, state and local governments are not located in major cities for logistic reasons. In Mohajir Tales, such common sense actions cannot occur. Everything happens for only one reason... oppression of Mohajirs. ``}

Your Excellency, since when did Rawalpindi or Islamabad become centralized centers of Pakistan for logistics reasons? Please take a look at the map - if the capital had been moved to Multan, I may have agreed with you. So, who now is spinning a yarn?

{``Next in Salim`s epic, Mohajirs use Aladin`s magic lamp and vanish from national scene vanish between 1970 and 1971. Never mind that they are still over-represented in bureaucracy and financial sector of Pakistan. Never mind that they are fighting in the Pakistan army and along side the army as razakars in East Pakistan. ``}

Very few Mohajirs were fighting anywhere - except serving as officers in the Punjabi-dominated Pak Army. Even the Ghazi ``Tiger`` Niazi head of the surrendering force was Punjabi. I have already mentioned the ``razakars`` and their sorry fate in my article. Of course, the razakars did not have compassionate, friendly fellow Punjabi Sikh conquerors like Jagjit Singh Arora to escort them into friendly POW resorts in India. The razakars were tortured, killed in great numbers, and forgotten right there in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. So, now who is twisting the facts to lump the war criminal cowards of the Paki Army with the razakars, who at least paid for their sins?

{``Mohajir`s reappear after the war. The magic lamp runs out of oil. Now Mohajirs can distance themselves from a war they were very much part of. ``}

Of all the major players in the East Pakistan tragedy - Bhutto, Yahya, Mujib, Tikka Khan, Rao Ferman Ali, Ghazi Tiger Niazi, and Wali Khan, how many were Mohajirs? So, now who is spinning another tale?

{``Another villain enters the scene in this Mohajir bedtime story. A sindhi leader with an overwhelming mandate tries to address the economic imbalance between Sindhis and Mohajirs by introducing a 20-year Quota system in jobs and educational institutions. Never mind that interior Sindh was poor and underdeveloped. Who cares whether Sindhis (or for that matter any part of Pakistan) live or die? All that matters is that a couple million Mohajirs in Karachi and Hyderabad should get into universities, banks, govt departments and corporations.``}

Another fabrication on your part, Your Excellency. Which ``Sindhi leader with an overwhelming mandate`` are you talking about? Bhutto only carried majorities in Punjab and Sindh and in fact NAP, allied with Awami League in East Pakistan, was victorious in NWFP and Baluchistan. Bhutto was NEVER elected to any office in Pakistan. He used the previous wins in only two provinces to take over Pakistan as a ``democratically`` elected leader. The real winner was Mujib. In 1977, Bhutto rigged the elections and the rest is history when MahaPunju Zia Owl Hag threw a necktie party for the egomaniac. So now, who is stretching the truth until it`s a blatant lie?

The rest of your post is full of even more untruths and does not merit a rebuttal. You make sweeping statements but forget to check the gross errors you build as your foundation. After such an intelligent discussion based mostly on facts and experiences, it is disappointing to read your rhetoric. :(

#661 saharanpur {``Dear Salimbhai
What a refreshing,invigorating article.
Yes I 100% agree that 1947 Partition was biggest blunder committed by UP muslims & Jinnah.
But u shud thank Gandhi/Nehru for allowing the illiterate,impoverished and mainly rural 2 Crore muslims to still remain in UP &India.All elite n educated muslim gladly migrated to the ummah heaven.Just imagine the catastrophe for UP muslims if there entire population had t perforce migrate to Pakistan/bangladesh like HIndus/Sikhs in Punjab/Sind having no links with their ancestral land n graves.`]

Dear Brother Saharanpuri,
I love that name Saharanpur - the city on the Jamuna on the border between undivided Punjab and UP. :)
Thank you for enjoying the article and your feedback. Yes, partition was probably the most stupid act performed by utterly selfish leaders and an even more selfish departing viceroy. If millions upon millions of rural and poor UP wallas, Biharis, and others HAD to migrate to Pakistan, then there probably would have been no Punjabi ``majority`` that some interactors here seem to point out in every other post. :)

Re: # 664
hs - salim is a divider - no concept of united we stand - salim wants to turn pakistan into another yugoslavia - is that what the mohajirs stand for?

re: Salim

{{We should not get involved in this pernicious civil strife}}

Only if Mohajirs want to lose their relevance in present-day Pakistan.

If Mohajirs can`t set aside their prejudices and join hands with ``fun-loving`` PPP liberals, then Mohajirs aren`t really as secular as you think. Genuinely secular parties don`t let history and cultural differences stand in the way of great causes. These petty issues didn`t prevent Jinnah`s AIML from reaching out to Fazle Haq`s KPP and Sikander Hayat`s Union Party in 1940s.

Musharraf, MQM, PPP, ANP and several members of PONM have a natural anti-Mullah alliance. They can only hurt themselves by going their separate ways in the face of a unified Mullah platform.

The trouble with Salim`s version of history is that it is ``His Story``. This is the kind of writing that one can associate with Slobodan Milosevic or perhaps Cho Seung-Hui.

Mohajirs appear in this story as a savior class, that single handedly created Pakistan. Never mind that Punjabis comprised the bulk of this country and bore the brunt of bloody partition.

The Urdu language, spoken by 2% of the population, is declared national language of Pakistan. Never mind that Punjabis accept this language without protest (unlike the Bengalis) despite being 70% of West Pakistani population.

Mohajirs next bless this country by taking over its businesses, evacuee property, educational institutions and bureaucracy. Never mind that they refuse to allocate public funds to agriculture, which employs 60% of the workforce and 70% of GDP.

All is bliss in Salim`s Pakistan because Mohajirs are running the country from Karachi.
But then suddenly an evil Pathan president decides to move the capital from Karachi to Islamabad, just to suppress Mohajirs. Never mind that in other countries, state and local governments are not located in major cities for logistic reasons. In Mohajir Tales, such common sense actions cannot occur. Everything happens for only one reason... oppression of Mohajirs.

Next in Salim`s epic, Mohajirs use Aladin`s magic lamp and vanish from national scene vanish between 1970 and 1971. Never mind that they are still over-represented in bureaucracy and financial sector of Pakistan. Never mind that they are fighting in the Pakistan army and along side the army as razakars in East Pakistan.

Mohajir`s reappear after the war. The magic lamp runs out of oil. Now Mohajirs can distance themselves from a war they were very much part of.

Another villain enters the scene in this Mohajir bedtime story. A sindhi leader with an overwhelming mandate tries to address the economic imbalance between Sindhis and Mohajirs by introducing a 20-year Quota system in jobs and educational institutions. Never mind that interior Sindh was poor and underdeveloped. Who cares whether Sindhis (or for that matter any part of Pakistan) live or die? All that matters is that a couple million Mohajirs in Karachi and Hyderabad should get into universities, banks, govt departments and corporations.

Flash forward ten years. Now the Mohajirs are angry that they have to share Karachi with people from other parts of Pakistan. Never mind that Karachi belonged to Sindhis before Mohajirs moved in 50 years ago. But now it belonged to Mohajirs. And only Mohajirs. So Pathans must pay a price for taking over transport business. How dare a Pathan rickshaw driver kill a Mohajir girl even by accident? Entire Pathan communities must be punished in Sohrab Goth.

The Mohajir epic turns funnier still. Army, intelligence agencies, Punjabis, Chaudhries, Feudals, Bureaucrats, Waderas and Pakistan are now conspiring against Mohajirs. Never mind that Army and intelligence agencies themselves helped Mohajir leadership stand up to Benazir. Never mind that Mohajir leadership has been running Karachi for over 20 years unfettered by Punjabis, Army, Sindhis, waderas, ISI, bureaucrats, chaudhries, et al.

The villains and tragedies in this sob story never change. Baseless allegations are hurled but never proven. Hate is justified but never analyzed. Fortunately, many Mohajirs have grown tired of this fiction. The Qaid-e-Tehreek has been compelled to go ``Muttahida`` instead of ``Mohajir``.

Let`s see whether a generation raised on Mohajir particularism is now capable of graduating to national politics or not.

#486 by Salim_Chauhan

{{Punjab`s brave soldiers have been busy committing that kind of violence in East Pakistan, et al}}

Umm.. there`s a big difference between a national army comprising 50-60% Punjabi soldiers... and a Mohajir political party comprising 100% Mohajir criminals. But let`s say we accept your little analogy here for a second...

What were the Mohajir and Pathan soldiers doing at that time? Writing protest letters to the New York Times? Or were they arresting Bihari razakars for assisting the Punjabi soldiers? :)

You don`t suppose there weren`t any Mohajir soldiers at all, do you? Musharraf, K.M.Arif, M.Usmani. Moinuddin Haider and Aslam Beg didn`t fall from the sky after 1971 did they??

Dear Salimbhai

What a refreshing,invigorating article.

Yes I 100% agree that 1947 Partition was biggest blunder committed by UP muslims & Jinnah.

But u shud thank Gandhi/Nehru for allowing the illiterate,impoverished and mainly rural 2 Crore muslims to still remain in UP &India.All elite n educated muslim gladly migrated to the ummah heaven.Just imagine the catastrophe for UP muslims if there entire population had t perforce migrate to Pakistan/bangladesh like HIndus/Sikhs in Punjab/Sind having no links with their ancestral land n graves.

Today those 2 crore hv nicely multiplied to 20 crore and r directly /indirectly selecting CMs N PMs in India.

aquaris #659,
Dear Friend,
Thank you for your polite and informative posts. I have benefited from reading your perspectives on the various aspects of this discussion. I appreciate your participation. Kaha suna maaf. :)

Re: # 655

these things have been going on with this Unfortunate god forsaken country,........

since ....... the beggining........ and were then legally santified by the Law under the ``Doctrine of Neccessity ``..... whatever that means.

I am no Fan of Gunjamens or Bezamirs or Mr whatever Percentages..... I think all of them are... KBPD [ Kuttey, Pilley, Billey and Dalley ], Dogs, Puppies, Cats and PIMPS.

Dogs , those who speak their masters voice.
Puppies , the one PETED by the Dogs
Cats , the silent Cruel cold blooded Hunters
and PIMPS, who do the various wheeling and dealing , at the expence of Ordinary polity, without any regard to ...........................Anything.



.....for you other Point about 26 Families, no they were not 26, But 22.

and No we are not one of them, we were small time traders, and still are.
.... I personally have now Left , all the worldy persuits.

Period.


thank you,for your patience, this will be my LAST interact on this Board, I have already taken more space then I intended.... But please do consider , in your hour of solitude or lonilenss, whenever, the things I have said, and you will find a ring or truth in them.

In the end, I appologize , if any one has been offended, BUT, this is What I honestly believed what happened to this god forsaken unfortunate country.

thanks again.

#648, HP {``Btw, can you name me one yes, one intellectual giant that has come out of Urdu speaking from Karachi or even in India? The last mohajir literary or intellectual giant was Ghalib. Since then all you can do is count pygmies elevated to god by minions. ``}

HP,
Jigar Muradabadi for one.
How about Josh Maliahabadi?
I think that Javed Akhtar is pretty damned good.

Then of course we have Farzana Versey - she is really that good of a writer. I love the way she is able to take insignificant events and spin interesting anecdotes and angles that astound everyone. :)

People in Karachi are too busy trying to survive.

#651 aquaris {``My father was born in Calcutta, and my granfather was a bussinessman in Madras, and his brothers , there were 7 of them, had bussiness as far as Peshawar, Dehli, and Dadu , present Sind, beside Lahore and Karachi. ``}

Aquairs,
So you guys are one of the 26 odd families that ZAB was always complaining about? :)

#647 Bulleya {``...Hiding behind Punjabi and Pathan names like Minhas, Shah and Khan may disguise their Muhajir/Karachi identities to many, but not to everyone....... ``}

Bulleya Sahib,

Khoocha Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, A. Q. Khan, Aamir Khan, Feroz Khan, Saroj Khan, Sanjay Khan, Amjad Khan, Qadir Khan, Saleem Khan, Fardeen Khan, Sajid Khan, Mazhar Khan, Sohail Khan, Abrar Khan, Irfan Khan, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, and Nasiruddin Shah aapkey baap the? :)

There are more Khans in Rohilkhand, Bhopal, Rampur, Shahjahanpur, Malihabad than all the Niswar in NWFP. :)

#653 aquaris {``
By the Way.. The reason Mr Altaf Hussain, despite 100% control over the Govt of Pakistan, is afraid to come back, because he knows what he has sowen in the killing fields of karachi.``}

Aquaris, my friend,
Any truth to the rumor that Bezamir is ready to make a deal with Mushy - support for Mushy as Prez in exchange for having charges against her and Mr. 10% dropped?

#621 by Yasser

As usual you are now resorting to what you know best... lying. But then that is to be expected from someone like you.

Err..when someone is constantly accusing everyone disagreeing with him of lying, it is rather easy to identify the liar (your profession goes well with it..kudos to your dad for identifying this trait early enough to have you trained as a professional). As for my contention that the ML folks were talking about Hindu domination and shedding Hindu blood if Pakistan was not granted, I`ve (as have others) put up enough evidence to support it, while your contentions that Khilafat episode made extremists out of Muslims remain just that.

Re: # 650

By the Way..

The reason Mr Altaf Hussain, despite 100% control over the Govt of Pakistan, is afraid to come back, because he knows what he has sowen in the killing fields of karachi.

WoW!!!

#651 posts and still, many to come..........

Excellent!