Politics of MQM has from day 1 been based on ethnic hatred, lies and playing the victim card. I will write about some of the myths created by MQM and spread hatred against other groups of Pakistan. In doing so they have created various lies. One is that punjabis stopped migrants at time of partition from settling in Punjab and they were forced to settle in Karachi. And one thing that you will always hear from them is that at time of partition, Lahoris lined the Lahore railway station with sticks and prevented people from deboarding, telling them, "Pakistan aggey hai"
The reality is that the largest portion of migranst actually settled in Punjab and not in Karachi. A total of 5.5 million refugess settled in Punjab while only 1.5 million settled in Sindh. If Punjabis were preventing peope from settling in Punjab how could 5.5 million settle in Punjab while less than a third of refugees settled in Sindh. Partition of India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Also notewrothy is that lot of those people that settled in Karachi did not come through punjab but entered Pakistan through KHokhrapar border, which is in Sindh and was closed after 1971 and recently was re-opened.
The other myth is that of deprivation of urdu speaking community at expanse of others. And major reason for cited for it is the qouta system. The qouta system was rigorously enforced by Liaqat Ali Khan and at one time 60% of jobs were reserved for migrants (A copy of this notification was presented in MQM vs Gov of Pakistan petition 1994). Hence the migration and settlement into Karachi (which also was capital then) continued well into 50s. Lot of people also insured jobs for their relatives still in Idia for they were the ones who mostly held the beaurocratic jobs in new Pakistan after the effluent and educated hindus left Pakistan. So since inception migrant muslims from India had an over representation in governemnt jobs. It was only when this anomaly was being corrected during Bhutto’s regime who separated the qouta for urban vs rural Sindh to give a deserving chance to rural Sindhi population that this propaganda of victimhood unleashed.
I will post more of these myths as we go.
NOTE: I amnot arguing in favour or against any ethnicity in Pakistan, all are my brothers and i beleive all Pakistanis should have equal rights regardless of their language, colour or area.
These myths (correctly stated so far) pre-existed MQM.
MQM just politicized (or mafia-ized) these myths.
Many of my fellow Urdus tend to forget that our ancestors conducted a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing in Karachi starting from the period of LIK.
Educated Sindhis bore the brunt of the cleansing. Only Punjabis could play the game of fascism at the level of Urdus due to their shear numbers and powerful army.
Non-Punjabi Ethnicities were just rolled flat by the Urdu power.
You're right we should all consider ourselves siblings to each other and the only title we ought to proudly flash is that of being Pakistani.
Any party that labels itself, and continues to use the provincial or ethnic label post freedom is no party at all, rather just an organization that has become political. That is also the case with MQM.
Muhajirs are located all over the country, and many reside in Punjab and other provinces, yet MQM seems to only portray the urdu speaking community residing in and around the province of Sindh as the sole title holder "muhajirs" which is not only factually wrong but ill-advised in today's times when Pakistan is a free country.
I just don't get it, how do today's generation carry the title of being Muhajir when they were infact born in Pakistan. That's like saying the African Americans of today taking credit for the hardships their ancestors had to face decades ago. It just does not add up.
MQM's slogan not only hurts the genuine cause of urdu speaking community, who no doubt have had to carry a heavy burden due to wrong policies that were adopted, but also due to the oppression that they faced in early years and late 90s.
Time has come for all parties to unite and work for the better of Pakistan as a nation, rather than using the relics of past as renewed sentiments for their own petty gains whether political, personal, or wealth-wise. No Mafia-styled organization should be allowed to take public for a joyride year after year simply because it holds people to the barrel of the gun and forces a certain interface which is not real, but rather created. A myth if you will..
Anyone that causes a split in the unity of the nation is worthy of being titled a dishonest individual who does not have the nation's best interests at heart. Period!
I will appreciate if you can also share some details regarding the numbers you are quoting for instance
what percentage of 5.5 million immigrant that settled in Punjab came from east Punjab places like GurdasPur,Haryana etc. & what percentage from rest of Inda Places like UP , MP , Bihar etc. I would presume since these places were closer to Punjab then Karachi it would have been easier for people to come to punjab then karachi , also if 1.5 Million that settle here at that time now constitute more about 50% population of Karachi that means around 6.5-7.0 million(ok after 1971 a lot of Stranded Pakistanis in East Pakistan came to Karachi most of them were Biharis but still)... the population of the 5.5 settled immigrants from India would have also increased by a similar proportion can you tell me what would be the population of people coming from 'Urdu Speaking Parts of India' that are currently settled in Punjab.
@BurqaPox I would appreciate if you can enlighten me with some numbers as well ..., what was the population of Karachi at the time of Creation of Pakistan...
& what % of those were ethinic sindhis , cause I cant seem to find a lot about Kalachi jo Got in Sindhi traditions.. , the small fisher village which Sir Charles David Napier founded in 1848.
& also what was the litracy rate at that time , I know Hindu sindhis were extremely well educated most of them migrated to India , but i would be interested to know the litracy rate amongst sindhi muslims at that time..., its not very hig
muhajir is a muhajir no? whether he speaks punjabi, urdu, marwari or gujrati. Appreciate the thread. May those who spread hatred fail in their hateful pursuit.
Politics of MQM has from day 1 been based on ethnic hatred, lies and playing the victim card. I will write about some of the myths created by MQM and spread hatred against other groups of Pakistan. In doing so they have created various lies. One is that punjabis stopped migrants at time of partition from settling in Punjab and they were forced to settle in Karachi. And one thing that you will always hear from them is that at time of partition, Lahoris lined the Lahore railway station with sticks and prevented people from deboarding, telling them, "*Pakistan aggey hai"*
"Pakistan aagay hay" is not a myth, but never heard "Lahoris lined up with sticks. This term "Pakistan aagay hay" was told by grand-parents who actually migrated after Pakistan's creation.... not a 'heresay'.
Also notewrothy is that lot of those people that settled in Karachi did not come through punjab but entered Pakistan through KHokhrapar border, which is in Sindh and was closed after 1971 and recently was re-opened.
My family entered Pakistan through Lahore side and continued to move southwards (reason above).
The other myth is that of deprivation of urdu speaking community at expanse of others. And major reason for cited for it is the qouta system. The qouta system was rigorously enforced by Liaqat Ali Khan and at one time 60% of jobs were reserved for migrants (A copy of this notification was presented in MQM vs Gov of Pakistan petition 1994). Hence the migration and settlement into Karachi (which also was capital then) continued well into 50s.
I don't know what the job situation was back then as my family was from farming side and no one was 'educated' (hence not eligible) for 'sarkari-jobs' but we did hear about army asking about "where are your parents from? Pakistan? what about your grand parents?"
As burqaposhx mentioned, these myths were not created by MQM, rather used for political mileage.
Funny that in 2009, we are talking about Mohajirs of 1947.
FYI. Mohajirs in literal sense only exist for one generation. Urdu speaking born in Pakistan are no longer mohajirs, at least not within Pakistan. Instead they are citizens of Pak and thus should be treated and respected like any other Pak citizen.
DD we can all hate MQM as much as we want. But that will not solve any problem.
Thus we should avoid such divisive threads at the critical moment when we our soldiers are dying in the North West region.
Even when the conditions are peaceful in the country, such historical things should be in the academic domain, and not in the bazaari mahol.
From the perspective of suffering & sacrifices experienced at the time independence those that immigrated from East punjab had suffered far more then those coming from rest of India.
From the perspective of integration & assimilation into the society there is a slight difference..., immigrants from East Punjab that were settling in Punjab they were moving into a society that was culturally & ethnically coherent with them, After all they were moving from one side of Punjab to the other where the people speaked the same language & were very similar in all other aspects of culture, they did not had to face the same kind of challenges in their integration as the rest. What I would interested to understand how did the immigrants that came from other parts of India settled & prospared in Punjab if they did.
Funny that in 2009, we are talking about Mohajirs of 1947.
FYI. Mohajirs in literal sense only exist for one generation. Urdu speaking born in Pakistan are no longer mohajirs, at least not within Pakistan. Instead they are citizens of Pak and thus should be treated and respected like any other Pak citizen.
DD we can all hate MQM as much as we want. But that will not solve any problem.
Thus we should avoid such divisive threads at the critical moment when we our soldiers are dying in the North West region.
Even when the conditions are peaceful in the country, such historical things should be in the academic domain, and not in the bazaari mahol.
It would have been appreciative had you been this considerate before you said the following
Correction!
Many of my fellow Urdus tend to forget that our ancestors conducted a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing in Karachi starting from the period of LIK.
Educated Sindhis bore the brunt of the cleansing. Only Punjabis could play the game of **fascism **at the level of Urdus due to their shear numbers and powerful army.
Non-Punjabi Ethnicities were just rolled flat by the Urdu power.
When you claim a people are fascist.., when you blame a people for committing ethnic cleansing..., when you blame a people for usurping of rights be more considerate or atleast speak with factual evidence
muhajir is a muhajir no? whether he speaks punjabi, urdu, marwari or gujrati. Appreciate the thread. May those who spread hatred fail in their hateful pursuit.
It becomes easier to 'integrate' into the society if you speak same language and are not drastically different in looks/culture, no?
It becomes easier to 'integrate' into the society if you speak same language and are not drastically different in looks/culture, no?
fair enough. however urdu is the official language of pakistan and when ever there is migration of this nature there are bound to be people who are in minority. However in essence the entire process of migration is as difficult for a minority as it is for majority. As for the settling once mingration has taken place, i believe that is the govt respnsibility to allot quotas and i think that people who benefited from those did much better financially after settling in Pakistan.
It would have been appreciative had you been this considerate before you said these
...
That was a correction to the original post about MQM's role. Why do you object?
.....
When you claim a people are fascist.., ....
Look we ought to be honest with ourselves. That's all.
.....
atleast speak with factual evidence
Oh by the way there is plenty of "factual evidence", so let's not get carried away.
Just look at the discriminatory admission policies of state-funded universities in Karachi from 1950s all the way to 1980s.
Just look at the prejudice in Karachi housing from 1950s to 1970.
Just look at the discriminatory job quotas from 1950s to 1970s.
Then you will get all the facts you want. Or if you are blessed by honest-to-goodness elders, they will tell you their "ankho-dekha-haal" about Mohajir fascism.
**
But as I say, these type of threads don't really educate anyone, and especially our community. We carry prejudice and hate the way our parents taught us, and then no statistic, no fact, and no book (let alone a measly thread on GS) can ever change that.**
That was a correction to the original post about MQM's role. Why do you object?
I was commenting on your original post where you blamed urdu speaking people of being facists..,
Oh by the way there is plenty of "factual evidence", so let's not get carried away.
Just look at the discriminatory admission policies of state-funded universities in Karachi from 1950s all the way to 1980s.
Just look at the prejudice in Karachi housing from 1950s to 1970.
Just look at the discriminatory job quotas from 1950s to 1970s.
*Then you will get all the facts you want. Or if you are blessed by honest-to-goodness elders, they will tell you their "ankho-dekha-haal" about Mohajir fascism. *
I would not know about job quotas or quotas in educational institute from the 50-80s as none from my ancestors ever managed to reach universities or had access to government jobs in this period . But as you claim there was a biased , prejudice & facism conducted by my ancestors... can you please tell me where did they drew the power to be able to do such things..., they were never part of the ruling elite when even the best candidate amongst them Fatima Jinnah was not considered capable enough in comparison to a military dictator Ayub khan at that time
they were not part of military establishment that was ruling the country for most of this period.
they were never part of fuedal elite either
they were part of civil bureaucracy but their role/influence was consistently diminishing throughout this period.
^ Well said. I always find it amazing that the establishment can deny opportunities to people and push them aside and than get surprised when the people push back. And than the establishment lackeys tell us how it's all a "myth".
"Pakistan aagay hay" is not a myth, but never heard "Lahoris lined up with sticks. This term "Pakistan aagay hay" was told by grand-parents who actually migrated after Pakistan's creation.... not a 'heresay'.
My family entered Pakistan through Lahore side and continued to move southwards (reason above).
My grandparents also migratd from India, (Haryana) to Punjab, and all they describe is countless people moving from India to Pakistan while being attacked by Sikh rioters. Riots were also occuring at the same time in Pakistan with scores of stranded Sikhs and hindus who were trying to flee to India.
Its unanimous in all records the greatest number of migrants settled in Punjab, while much less in Karachi. If what your claim of Pakistan aagey hai is true, then to filter ou urdu speaking from migrants and systematically displacing them towards kaarachi would require a huge, huge, huge machinery. Remember, the number of migrants was 5-7 million according to different estimates. No such machinery ever existed.
I find it quite amusing that a person like you can buy this crap, its only possible if your judgement is clouded by bias. I wonder how many people would it have taken for preventing your grandparents to settle anywhere from Lahore to karachi, with 3000 miles of journey.
Funny that in 2009, we are talking about Mohajirs of 1947.
FYI. Mohajirs in literal sense only exist for one generation. Urdu speaking born in Pakistan are no longer mohajirs, at least not within Pakistan. Instead they are citizens of Pak and thus should be treated and respected like any other Pak citizen.
DD we can all hate MQM as much as we want. But that will not solve any problem.
Thus we should avoid such divisive threads at the critical moment when we our soldiers are dying in the North West region.
Even when the conditions are peaceful in the country, such historical things should be in the academic domain, and not in the bazaari mahol.
BP, i deeply despise hatred among ethnicities in Pakistan, but, afterall i am a human being also, and when we see a fascist organization spreading lies, should we just accept and stay quiet, this in no way will unite us. When people keep floating on your face things like, we are the nation who made Pakistan, the progress of country depends upon progress of karachi, Pakistan sab ka hai, magar karachi hamara hai etc then one has to show the true picture.