This Pyre Will Burn…!

Pakistan was a country orphaned at birth. Born of hope in 1947, the new nation — an independent state for the Muslim-majority provinces of northwestern and eastern India — promised to be the success story of the subcontinent, a democratic entity divested of India's terrible legacy of caste entitlement. Little more than a year after Mohammed Ali Jinnah signed the document declaring Pakistan a sovereign state, the erudite, Savile Row–suited father of the nation died of lung cancer and tuberculosis, leaving the infant democracy bereft of his enlightened guidance. With him died the charismatic leadership that his new nation, divided into West and East Pakistan (later Bangladesh), desperately needed in order to grow as a modern state. In a sense, Pakistan has been searching for its parents ever since.

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As the young country staggered through its grief, seeking a unified identity out of dozens of feuding ethnic divisions, history continued to deal blow after blow. Liaquat Ali Khan, Pakistan's first Prime Minister and Jinnah's political heir, was shot dead in 1951 by a Pashtun separatist. Fifty-six years later, Benazir Bhutto died in the very same park. One of her attending doctors was the son of the physician who tried, and failed, to save Khan's life.

At the death of Khan, Pakistan was inherited by a succession of caretakers more intent on grabbing power than building institutions. The nation was little more than 10 years old when President Iskander Ali Mirza declared martial law to try to save his presidency from growing unpopularity. The army stepped in, overthrowing Mirza in 1958 and establishing a pattern of military "rescues" that has plagued the nation ever since. Not once has the country seen a peaceful, democratic transition of power. While Pakistan considers itself a democracy, its governments rarely have a mandate from the people, and leaders — be they Presidents, Prime Ministers or army chiefs — have catered to the élites, at the expense of the masses.

That was supposed to change in 1967. A young, charismatic politician, born of the ruling class but speaking for the people, rose to prominence, bringing his new Pakistan People's Party to power in 1971, after the civil war that ripped East Pakistan from the nation. For the first time, Pakistan's poor felt they had a voice. "Zulfikar Ali Bhutto taught us to live," says Abdul Shakoor Agaria, a resident of Karachi's notorious Lyari slum. He went on to relate the apocryphal story of a poor farmer who demanded of the young President what he had done for the people. "I have done this," Bhutto is said to have responded. "A poor farmer such as yourself is able today to ask the President that question." For the first time, Pakistan felt that it had regained a father.

But Bhutto's reign was troubled. Military and feudal élites were threatened by his socialist policies, and rivalries over resources between his home province of Sindh and the Punjab of the traditional ruling classes roiled Pakistan. In 1977, the military government stepped in, hanging Bhutto in 1979 over controversial charges of conspiracy to murder. The country's grief turned to rage in its adolescence. The Soviet invasion of neighboring Afghanistan in 1979 sparked a jihad. Death and martyrdom became an honorable answer to oppressive power, a legacy that Pakistan has been unable to shrug off.

When Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in 1986 to resume her father's mantle, the nation responded with joy, and a landslide democratic victory. The daughter was accorded her father's adoration, but she also inherited his flaws. Her two truncated terms in office were plagued by incompetence and allegations of corruption. Twice she was ousted, and in 1999 she chose exile over remaining in Pakistan under the rule of yet another military dictator, Pervez Musharraf. Her return eight years later was supposed to herald a new beginning for the traumatized nation.

But it wasn't to be. Hours after her death, the country erupted in spasms of self-destruction. The Lyari slum, which had pinned its hopes on the return of a mother figure, descended into apocalyptic chaos. The streets were blackened with ash, and the burned-out skeletons of scores of buses, trucks and cars smoldered at intersections. Despair still blankets the tiny, ramshackle houses, and shopkeepers linger listlessly at their doors. "There is nothing left," said one. "Only violence remains."

Pakistan will continue on, limping and damaged. But the legacy of loss, from the first father to the last mother, has taken its emotional toll. The cult of martyrdom has taken over where voices fail to be heard. In Lyari, walls are plastered with posters of local boys who died protecting Bhutto when she made her triumphant return to Karachi on Oct. 18. The question for Pakistan is how it can find life without celebrating death.

Let us see what observers of HIstory say.

Excerpted from Sardar GS Talib's The ML attacks on the HIndus and the Sikhs:

In Sind the Sikh population was not large, though the Hindus formed about 30% of-the population of the province. Out of the total non-Muslim population of 14 Lakhs, now1 only about 2 lakhs are left in Sind, the rest having come to India as refugees. The turning out of non-Muslims from Sind is very amply illustrative of the naked policy of turning out of Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan, for no other reason whatever except that they were not Muslims. There was a policy of systematic terrorization of Hindus. Their business premises were looted, their womenfolk molested, and the avenues of normal respectable life entirely closed to them. Thus, through terror and intimidation, within the period of less than a year twelve lakhs out of the fourteen lakhs of Hindus in Sind have been forced to migrate to India. This has happened in spite of the fact that in the words of Shri Mansukhani, Secretary, Sind Congress Refugee Relief Committee, New Delhi, �not one single Muslim lost his life at the hands of Hindus in any act of retaliation or self-defence, not to talk of any act of aggression; but where from the first day of the birth of Pakistan, Hindus have been systematically done to death, by the knife, by the bullet. by the throwing out of the windows and doors of running trains. The object has been one and the goal clear. Pakistan has desired that it should be a theocratic state in the sense that all its citizens should be Muslims. This battle has been remorselessly waged on one long front of Western Pakistan.�

Hindus� houses were forcibly occupied, in Karachi and everywhere else, their property and land snatched from them, and no option left for them but to, seek a safer life free from unbearable indignities, in India.

Other portions from Shri Mansukhani�s article, quoted above. are: -

�Soon after August 15, 1947, was organised the ousting of Hindus and Sikhs from their residences and business premises, from their agricultural lands and industrial concerns.

�No Hindu�s house was his castle, he had to retreat at the point of the dagger and run away from the back-door. The Police of the Province and the War-time established Rent Control Department helped �legally� to throw out the members of the minority community.

Traces of Hinduism Erased

�It is not an uncommon phenomenon for prominent Hindus who are sticking on to the soil of Sind to be accosted while going about even on the main streets by Muslims and threateningly asked to either embrace Islam or go out of Pakistan.

�Hindu passengers can travel by railway only for short journeys and during day time and that too at great risk of their lives.

Our Shrines

�Our Gurmandir in Karachi became lately the residence of Sydney Cotton, the smuggler of arms to Nizam�s Hyderabad of yesterday. Most of our religious places, shrines, temples and Gurdwaras have been occupied by Muslims. The scriptures have been destroyed and the valuables have been pilfered and safely appropriated. Some of these places have also been turned into mosques where the Faithful congregate and read their Friday prayers to Allah. All educational institutions are similarly occupied and converted into the Schools and Colleges for Muslims.�

(�The Tribune�-January 16, 1949)

As for the Sikhs, their elimination and extermination began at about the same time as in West Punjab. By August all Sikhs in large towns had left Sind, and came over to the Punjab. It was not infrequent for trains carrying these Sikh refugees to be attacked on the way. On the 2nd of August, Sikhs were attacked in several villages in Nawabshah District.

On the 1st September, 1947 one train was stopped at Nawabshah, and the Sikh passengers attacked. Of these 15 were killed, and 17 injured.

The only Sikhs in Sind after August, were those in the interior-small tradesmen, pedlars and craftsmen. These began to be evacuated. Their condition was described in news agency reports as being extremely miserable and pitiable, as they could not ply any trade, and were in the last stage of destitution.

So much were the Muslims indoctrinated with the gospel of hate preached over years by the Muslim League, that on the 6th January, 1948, long after killing had stopped in East Punjab, a terrible massacre of evacuee Sikhs, awaiting embarkation for India occurred at Karachi. That this was no isolated incident of its kind in Pakistan is witnessed by the terrible Gujrat massacre of the 11th January, 1948, and the Parachinar massacre of the 23rd January, 1948. These three huge massacres of Sikhs and Hindus occurred in such quick succession at a time when all attacks on the Muslims in Indian territory had ceased three months before.

Certain details of this above mentioned Karachi massacre are of interest as revealing the conspiracy, cynicism and heartlessness of the Government of Pakistan, in the matter of getting Sikhs murdered.

As for the details of the massacre, the District Magistrate�s report from Karachi is reproduced below:

�Communal trouble started in Karachi today when 184 Sikhs arrived from Shikarpur by the morning train. From the station they went to a Gurdwara near Ratan Talao. A mob of nearly 8,000 gathered on the arrival of the Sikhs and surrounded the Gurdwara and set fire to it, and started stabbing and killing and a number of persons2 were killed,�

In the town of Karachi �there was looting in several quarters and there were four cases of arson.�3

There was looting on the next day as well, in the houses of Hindus. The situation was described in �an appeal�, issued by the Editors of several Karachi newspapers as �appalling� while admitting that some Muslims gave shelter to �the Hindu victims of mob frenzy.�

In the Gurdwara, where the massacre took place, women and children were also killed, as admitted by the Sind Premier in his statement.

The result of the disturbances of January 6 was described in �The Civil and Military Gazette� in these words:

�There was negligible loss of life suffered by the minority community (Hindus) compared to the looting that took place throughout the city�� The lives of members of the minority community (Hindus) were saved at the expense of their property.�

About 10,000 Hindus had to be kept in refugee camps, and Hindus had to be evacuated early to India, to save them from being murdered by Muslims. Looting went on uninterruptedly. So bold and open was this loot, that police and employees of the Chief Court of Sind openly participated in it. The Chief Court building was used as a dump for this loot. The Chief justice, an Englishman, his patience exhausted, had at last to intervene and stop the loot from being stacked at least in the Chief Court Building. This was the limit of the collapse of the law and good government in Pakistan.

Further facts in the situation are:

(1) About 800 Sikhs were killed in Karachi and not 184, as stated in the Pakistan communique.

(2) Not a word of regret was expressed by any responsible person in Pakistan over this tremendous loss of Sikh life. The Sind Premier made only the insulting statement that the sight of these Sikhs �provoked� the Muslims and only added the still more insulting directive that Sikhs be not brought to Karachi �in open carriages.� The Premier�s statement also makes it clear that no police precautions were taken for the protection of these Sikhs, whose lives were evidently so cheap that any one was at liberty to take them without the Pakistan Government moving its little finger.

The Governor-General of Pakistan, Mr. Jinnah, who sent a message of sympathy for the sufferers, did not so much as mention the Sikhs, who had been killed in overwhelming numbers. All that he said was that he had sympathy for the Hindus in their losses.

This was symptomatic of the attitude of the Pakistan Government, which did not regard Sikh life as worthy of any kind of protection and as meriting any sympathy.

The masses in Pakistan knew very well what their Government thought of any attack made on the Sikhs.

Jinnah�s statement was, furthermore an attempt to create a rift between Hindus and Sikhs, which the Muslims have been trying to, by posing to dislike the Hindus less than the Sikhs.

All these happenings occurred at a time when in India, Mahatma Gandhi undertook his last fast to get better treatment for the Indian Muslims. That was the response in Pakistan to the Mahatma�s gesture, and the faithfully carrying out of the Mahatma�s instructions by Hindus and Sikhs. Exactly when Delhi was being made safe for Muslims, in Karachi 800 Sikhs were massacred, and all Hindus looted and despoiled, had to move into refugee camps.

Footnotes:

1January, 1949.

2These were Sikhs exclusively.

3This is the Pakistan report of widespread looting of Hindu houses that went on unchecked in Karachi for a day or longer.

Pakis are NOT a cursed nation.
To end this board with a positive thought.

{"As a nation and society we are hypocrites and opportunists. May be it does not sound pleasing to many of you but just give it a thought. At the start of the New Year let us at least promise to do some thing if not everything for the betterment of ourselves. Let us not let the world think that we are a cursed nation."}

Zafar Sahib,
I can appreciate your frustrations and even understand the hopelessness of the moment. Like you, I too was dejected by the untimely demise of BB. But, what I saw in the last few days following her murder made me even more depressed and angry. As someone said every night is followed by the morn and it's darkest just before daylight.

Please don't be sad forever and certainly don't throw in the towel. We need just a few motivated, honest, patriotic, and dedicated individuals from each community and each province who really love Pakistan. Excuse me for being a doubting Thomas, but I don't think that such people can be found in the likes of Mushy, Zardari, Sharif, the Chaudhrys, or Altaf Bhai. Like BB, all of these people have too much baggage and the fish n their bags, that they brought to feed us, is beginning to rot and smell. We need to dispense with the traditional, useless alliances of party, province, sect, language, and religion. We need to discard these useless pirs, politicians, feudal lords, mullahs, and army generals.

The students and educated youth of Pakistan need to take matters into their own hands. They need to forcefully tell their elders and their so-called movers and shakers to grow up and get out of the way. The youth have the most to lose from the pending doom. The fratricidal leaders and their childish games that even Machiavelli would scoff at have no meaning in this modern world. They cannot keep destroying this country every 10 years or so without serious consequences.

The young people of Pakistan have to resolve that they will make their country work. Not because of the less than Azam Quaid or the rascals posing as "Shaheed," or the bearded 7th century transplants calling themselves Maulana and Alim, and certainly not the "Ghazis" whose only victory has been routing Moola Fadloola in Swat. The youth of Pakistan needs to retire the old school and take over the country.

The young Pakistanis need to take an oath against using ethnic, religious, provincial, sectarian, linguistic, class, or racial excuses to tear each other apart. They need to restore or build our institutions of education, government, healthcare, and legitimate defense. In short, Pakistan needs an educated population that believes in genuine democracy with secularism, freedom, tolerance, and universal prosperity as its cornerstones.

It's not easy to accomplish, but it's not impossible. It was much harder to obtain Pakistan - it should be much easier to maintain and enhance it. Good Luck.

Salim Ahmed Chauhan

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#325 Rajsingh1 {"Very witty indeed!
Wonder if/when you will be able to surpass yourself."}

Rajsinhgh1 Sahib,
Welcome back, my friend. At a rare 80 interacts/year, your compliment is indeed very precious. Thank you for your feedback.

Janab,
Qayamat is near. Manto Bhai is being nice to Sadna, HP likes Altaf Hussain, Hypo Chacha is eating Bihari Kebabs, Kaal Bhayya has reopened Chowk, Hamidumdum is on the wagon, Urstruly is under the wagon, Masadi is chewing on pork bellies, and Bubba is in the outhouse. Pretty soon there will be no need for me.

HP:
I would think Urdu language as lingua franca.
Even the origin of Urdu is as a lingua franca of Arab, Persian, Afghans and local people.
The new generation is learning Sindhi.

Bubba:
You need to live in Newyork to appreciate it.

Great discussion.

Willy nilly the author used Hindu symbolism in this title, though there is nothing Hindu abt the article. However one shud not read too much into this symbolism. The article and the discussion gave good understanding of the title.

+++

Musharraf beats Machivilli on any day ;)

When called Scotland Yard for probe, he sought to clear his name and that of Agencies in the assassination of Benazir

instead of

1. Tracking the whole network of ppl who worked in it
2. Appointing a Commission of Enquiry to find out the security lapses and remedial measures to stop such acts from happening in future apart from fixing ppl.

That wud obviously be the reaction of any country.....but sadly Pakistan is Musharraf's/Army's country :(

++++

B4 this board becomes history:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CIyrlTwEuYY


A Bengali (Bangladeshi) singer Runa Laila singing a Sindhi song.

Laila is superb.

Vaise, we agree. Those who don't integrate, either rule over the rest, or suffer, depending upon how committed they are to understanding and implementing brutal power dynamics.

Pakfin, no Mohajir ever migrated to Sindh. All migrated to Pakistan, and did so fully assimilated into the idea, the vision, and the nation of Pakistan.

Sindhi Muslims, despite best help from their Mohajir friends, seemed to have fallen behind in integrating themselves into the new nation, even though this new nation was being built right in their own geographical backyard, and with their full consent and agreement.

From the interacts here, it seems, Sindhi Muslim vision extended only up to their individual mortgages. Understandably, they were upset when 'their land' was not returned to them after the departure of Sindhi Hindus, even though they had never bothered to pay off the mortgage.

That's how people with a sense of entitlement react.

Re: # 301. The question here is not that of Sindhis assimilating into Pakistan, but is that of Mohajirs doing so. You cannot migrate to the province of Sindh and still be a Mohajir from Lucknow, UP or Bihar. It is ethnic groups that migrate and maintain a separate identity who lose out in the end, specially if the attitude is that of superiority over the indiginous people.

HP

My sincere thanks for the welcome. Also for remembering me. I too had not forgotten you.

Yes, it has been quite a while.

I trust you are keeping well.

Once again, many thanks.

Re: # 315. People have forgotten a couple of facts, one that the evacuee property in Sindh went to the Evacuee Property Trust and was subsequently handed over to Mohajirs, whereas in Punjab the province took over the property of the HIndus who had left for India. Under the laws of the Punjab (Revenue Code)you cannot own agricultural land in the Punjab until and unless you have been a resident of the tehsil for a period of two years. Two, a lot of the small Sindhi Muslim landowners had mortgaged their agricultural land with the Hindu money lenders by handing over the titles to them. When these money lenders left, the lands were confiscated by the government and handed over the Evacuee Property Trust as abandoned property and subsequently handed over to the Mohajirs.

Welcome back rajsinghi1 Ji,
Long time no see!

Re: # 324. Fuzair, the quota system has not done much for the upliftment of the people of rural Sindh. It has simply become slogan for those who want to justify their wrongdoings. An example of the quota system is admissions to professional colleges; the seats that are supposedly open merit are " All Karachi Open Merit" or in other words, if you want to apply for one of these you must have a PRC and domicile from Karachi. In the case of DMC and NED these so called open merit seats were about 90% of the total. The seats for rural Sindh on the other hand used to be about 5% and most of the candidates for these would be the top two or three position holders from each district.

Salim Chauhan

Post#318



"I always wanted a VaDera as a butler to announce my arrival. :)"

Very witty indeed!

Wonder if/when you will be able to surpass yourself.