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Their numbers were small and they were concentrated in the port city of Karachi. There they were unable to overwhelm the local Sindhi population to gain complete political power. Hence they maintained a somewhat tense relationship with the locals. Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, Liaqat Ali Khan, its first Prime Minister, and a number of other early leaders were Mohajirs.
These better educated and largely urban Muslims of central India carried a heavy grievance against India. They were the key to the anti-Indian and anti-Hindu sentiments in Pakistan. Unlike the much larger number of Hindu migrants who were forced out of Pakistan to India, the Mohajirs in Karachi preferred political power for their salvation. While Hindu migrants from Pakistan to India wished for prosperity, and settled down to become industrialists, businessmen and later politicians, the Mohajirs kept dreaming of political dominance. They ignored the Sindhi majority and aligned with other migrants from Afghanistan, such as the Pashtu-speaking Pathans.
Very soon Liaqat Ali Khan was assassinated and Mohmmed Ali Jinnah died of natural causes. In quick succession the two key Mohajir benefactors were gone from the scene. Also a bit later, their political power base shifted from Karachi to Islamabad. This switching of the capital changed the Mohajir's fortunes forever. Pakistani Punjabis grabbed national political power and from then onwards began dominating the national scene. Back in Karachi, Sindhis began their own drive to reclaim political power and that set off the on-again-off-again political crisis in this port city.
Even with the loss of Mohajir political power, Karachi remained the intellectual capital of the nation. It had a better education system, thanks to the urbanized Mohajirs. Also it boasted of being the only Pakistani outlet via sea for commerce and international trade. The bulk of the civil servants and policymakers were recruited from this sprawling city. All major financial activity centered there. Other major cities of Pakistan, like Lahore, were much grander but were not comparable to Karachi. Lahore sorely missed the now departed Hindu population. The latter had made up 45 percent of the population and were the soul of the city. Their departure set Pakistani Punjab a generation behind. This was Karachi's gain. Urbanized Mohajirs managed to establish Karachi as the nation's intellectual headquarters.
The Muslims from Uttar Pradesh were not the only migrants to Pakistan in 1947. Punjabi Muslims in Indian Punjab also migrated to Pakistan. These migrants, unlike the Mohanjirs, blended into the society and into the established cultural hierarchy, hence did not operate as a distinct group. Mohajirs did not wish to be assimilated, preferring to be distinct. This cultural disparity set off chains of events that often resulted in chaos and disorder. The May 12 riots in Karachi were the direct result of this. Politicians often played one group against the other, resulting in death and destruction. This time, it would appear that the Mohajirs initiated the trouble at the government's bidding.
There were 15 years of violent political instability in the 1980s and 1990s in Karachi. The political masters in Islamabad, mostly the Punjabi-dominated army, loved the explosive mixture of Sindhis, Mohajirs and Pathans and used it for their own benefit. This explosive mix has undone all the gains the Mohajirs had made in this port city since 1947. Now a Mohajir-dominated political party, the Muttahida Quami Movement, is reasserting itself. Local Sindhis are in no mood to listen to them, and political maneuvering has begun. The present military ruler of Pakistan, himself a Mohajir from Delhi, in order to cut the Pathan influence in the city to size aligned himself with the MQM, which began the recent rioting in Karachi.
Today, Mohajir intellectuals dominate government offices, colleges, universities and other non-agricultural positions. They have been until lately the bulk of the Pakistani diplomats, nuclear scientists and engineers. The only field they do not dominate is agriculture and agricultural infrastructure. This is the domain of Punjabis. The latter also man the army and the security apparatus. In addition, almost all Jihadi activity everywhere is also Punjabi-dominated.
In pre-partition days, Urdu-speaking Muslims from Uttar Pradesh were misled to believe that their salvation lay in immigrating to Pakistan. Hence a small but influential number made it to Pakistan, in spite of repeated appeals not to by Muslim stalwarts like Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Asaf Ali and almost all the Deoband leaders. Today, they have become the political tools of people in power. There is an uneasy peace, mostly enforced by gun-toting roughnecks of each community or by the government security services. Occasionally this calm is broken. Each time this happens, Mohajirs lose more influence and Sindhis gain it.
Where does Mohajir power stand today in Pakistan? The initial euphoria is lost; this is no longer a power base for future leaders. A number of Mohajirs have privately expressed the desire to emigrate back to India. That is not possible. India in sixty years has moved forward -- very far ahead of the medieval politics of the Mohajir political mindset. India does not want them back. But this is an open lessen to the politicians who uprooted them from their homes a generation back.
Let us examine the Hindu and Sikh migrants from Pakistan who came to India hungry and penniless and suffered untold misery at the hands of their neighbors after leaving their homes and property in a land where they had been residents for five millennia. They were three times more numerous than the Muslim migrants who went the other way. These Hindu and Sikh migrants in Indian Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, and Western Uttar Pradesh are today industry leaders, businessmen, scientists and top diplomats. When they came, they were not searching for influence but for shelter, food, education and a place they could call home.
These sophisticated people were Pakistan's greatest cultural loss. Indian states where they settled became immense beneficiaries. Today Delhi, a previously less sophisticated city, is a vibrant center of culture, commerce and industry. These immigrants made it so. They brought with them five millennia of culture and heritage. They enriched the culture and infused into it a germ of peace and advancement through blending and cooperation. As such there is no Mohajir community of migrants in India, similar to the one in Pakistan.
Today a Pakistan-born Sikh migrant is India's prime minister, and he leads a diverse group of people in the Congress Party. It is a true honor to the migrants who took to the schools, colleges and universities and refused to participate in group politics.
Back to the subject of Mohajir power in Pakistan -- it is on the wane. Very soon nothing will be left of it. Then these Urdu-speaking migrants will regret that they ever decided to leave their homes in India. What is done is done. It cannot be retracted. India wishes them well.
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(Hari Sud is a retired vice president of C-I-L Inc., a former investment strategies analyst and international relations manager. A graduate of Punjab University and the University of Missouri, he has lived in Canada for the past 34 years. ©Copyright Hari Sud.)
