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Muhajir (Pakistan)

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See Muhajir page for all Muhajir groups in the world
Ethnic group
The Muhajirs File:Un musharraf.jpg
Regions with significant populations
Pakistan,Bangladesh,United Kingdom,Saudi Arabia,Australia,United Arab Emirates,United States,Canada
Languages
Urdu
Religion
Islam( a Sunni majority and a Shia minority)
Related ethnic groups
Other Indo-Aryan peoples Punjabis, Memons, Gujaratis, Pashtuns, Sindhis

Muhajir or Mohajir-Urdu (also known as native speakers of Pakistan) (Urdu: مہاجر) is widely thought of as an Indo-Aryan ethnic group in Pakistan. It is essentially used to describe the Urdu speaking Muslims that migrated to Pakistan after the independence of Pakistan and their descendants. As these Muslims came from all over India, the word cannot be used strictly as an ethnic group. They can also be identified as the native Urdu speakers of Pakistan.

Origin and meaning

A train with a group of people affected by partition in Pakistan
File:Partion1.jpg
Photo of a railway station in Pakistan. Many people abandoned their fixed assets and left for the country of their choice.

Muhajir is an Arabic word, widely used in the Muslim world that refers to someone who has emigrated from one place to another. In particular, it refers to the early Muslims, companions of Prophet Muhammad, who emigrated with him from Makkah to Medina in the wake of the Hijra, as opposed to the Ansar, or Madinan Muslims of the time. (See Muhajirun.)

Historical background

The Muhajirs (Urdu speaking) migrated to Pakistan in 1947 from the present-day Indian states of Delhi,Haryana,Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh (then the princely state of Hyderabad). They are united by many identical socio-cultural elements which include speaking the Urdu language as Mother tongue. Muhajirs are spread throughout Pakistan, with large concentrations in many urban areas (See below).

Muhajirs in Pakistan

Muhajirs have sizeable population in the urban centres of Pakistan. They are in majority in the urban areas of Sindh and have significant population in major urban areas of Punjab. Following is the list of cities with significant Muhajir population, according to the 1998 census of Pakistan. These percentages represent the population w.r.t the total of district's population.


Note: The bifurcation of Hyderabad district in 2005, into a new urban city district, may have increased the population of Urdu speaking population to as high as two-thirds of the total district's population.

Muhajirs in Bangladesh

Main article: Biharis

In addition to the above population, an estimated 600,000 Urdu speaking Muhajirs from Bihar State live in 64 refugee camps throughout Bangladesh

Culture

Muhajirs are the heirs of the great Muslim cultural heritage of India. The Urdu speaking muslims of sub-continent are considered to be the most cultured,refined and well-mannered.

Political ideology

As matter of fact Muhajirs hold moderate, liberal and an unorthodox political opinion. Most tend to be secular and support ideals of Western democracy. Most Muhajirs held comfortable vocations in British India. Native Urdu speakers were the most highly educated ethnic group of Pakistan. Their literacy rate is nearly three times higher than the combined literacy rate of all other ethnic groups of Pakistan.

Language

The Urdu language binds the Muhajir community together. They have been speaking this language as mother tongue for many centuries. Urdu has been the medium of the literature, history and journalism of South Asian Muslims during the last 200 years. Most of the work was complemented by ancestors of present Muhajirs and native Urdu speakers in India. Though Urdu is the lingua franca in Pakistan, only about 8% of the population uses it as a mother tongue, but it is still understood and spoken by as much as 60% of the population.Urdu still stands as the only language which bridges the communication gap between all pakistani people, it is well understood all over Pakistan. The accent of Muhajirs is considered standard and decisive within Pakistan.

Although after emergence of Tarraqi-Pasand Tehreek, Punjab rose as one of the important centers of the Urdu language and produced many praiseworthy poets and story writers. However, the work on Urdu literary criticism, journalism, history, semantics, lexicography and theoretical and applied linguistics was introduced by Muhajirs.

Lifestyle

The urban lifestyle of Pakistan is mostly colored by Muhajirs in the major cities of Pakistan, as they originally immigrated from mostly urban centers of India before the independence of Pakistan. Most of the Muhajir traditions and customs, ranging from Dress, Cuisine, Marriage and Funeral traditions have greatly influenced the lifestyles of other ethic groups of Pakistan, especially the Punjabis.

Cuisine

Muhajirs have the most exquisite culinary traditions in South Asia. Many popular foods of South Asia are essentially of Muhajir origin. Urdu speaking Indian Muslims invented hundreds of exquisite recipes, especially under the patronage of Nawabs of U.P and Hyderabad State. When some of them migrated to urban areas of Pakistan, they carried these rich cuisines with them. Some of the most famous dishes are such as "Shami Kebab", "Biryani", "Qorma", "Nihari","Kheer","Haleem","Halwajat" and hundreds of other dishes.

Discrimination

Most Muhajirs who originally immigrated to Pakistan were more educated and skilled than their rural middle class counterparts. Despite having better academic qualifications and professional skills, some Muhajirs felt discrimination in public services. Introduction of a quota system, between provinces and in urban and rural Sindh.

Today, many observers have said that the open discrimination against Muhajirs has considerablly been reduced,although the quota system is still applied. This was helped by the fact that some of the top Pakistani figures are of muhajir descent, which includes people of the performing arts and sports. It is also believed that discrimination against muhajirs has reduced or even vanished in some areas as current Millitary Ruler of Pakistan and de facto ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, and the Governor of Sindh are both Muhajirs. In addition to that, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a Muhajir political party, is running the city district government of the city of Karachi and is publicly allied to the central government in Islamabad.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Muhajirs only constituted 7% of the Pakistani population but monopolized most of its bureaucracy due to their higher educational backgrounds. Academia, finance, and the service sector in general quickly became engorged with Muhajir influence. This created resentment in other linguistic and ethnic groups of Pakistan, mainly the Punjabis who own most of the indigenous land of what became Pakistan. The Pakistani government tried to create a balance by introducing job quotas in bureaucracy and educational institutions to help other ethnic and linguistic groups to get their fair representation comparable to their share in the Pakistani population. This affirmative action by the government of Pakistan was resented by the Muhajirs who preferred qualification and merit as the only criteria for jobs and admission into universities.

Pashtun Killers Episode

During the 1964 Presidential Elections, Many Urdu speakers were brutally murdered by Pashtun and Punjabis in Karachi, as they were in favour of Fatima Jinnah. President General Ayub Khan fully supported them, with his own family members taking part in it (His son "Gohar Ayub" is reported to personally fired at innocent Muhajirs during a victory procession at "Lalu Khait"). A Shuhuda-i-Urdu mosque was erected in memory of the martyrs at Liaquatabad a.k.a "Lalu Khait" in Karachi.

1972 Language Riots

In 1972, ethnic riots broke out between Muhajirs and Sindhis in Urban areas of Sindh, as Sindhi was imposed as official provincial language. Urdu speakers were against it, as Sindhis were not in absolute majority in the province. Sindhis started rioting and Muhajirs suffered heavily as these riots were fully supported by the government. Hundreds of Urdu speakers lost their lives. Another major impact was the flow of Muhajirs from urban areas of northern Sindh (Like Larkana, Shikarpur etc) to Karachi and Hyderabad.

Massacre of Aligarh

On December 15, 1986, a group of armed Afghans and Pashtuns, seized the Aligarh, Orangi and Qasba colonies and adjacent areas of Karachi and killed innocent Muhajirs, burnt shops and houses, and raped women. Some buses and shops of Pashtun were burnt and a few of them were attacked the next day, in revenge riots. The total number of people killed is unknown but 150 Muhajirs lost their lives on December 15, 1986.

1992 military operation

June 19, 1992, an army operation was launched by the Pakistan Army on orders of Nawaz Sharif which was approved by parliament, to crush terrorists in Karachi. The Army and State Agencies of Pakistan took action against terrorists and destroyed them successfully to restore calm in Karachi and Hyderabad. During this time, MQM leader Altaf Hussain, with help of Nawaz Sharif, left the country. Many observers say that this action by Nawaz Sharif created rifts between him and the Army.

Muhajirs and the rise of MQM

The MQM party was formed by Altaf Hussain in 1985 which sought to bring political representation to the Muhajir community. The party currently holds a very strong footing in Karachi and urban Sindh ( Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas & Nawabshah ). Now the MQM is making inroads into the Northern Areas including Azad Kashmir. It is also active abroad, most notably in the UK, the US, and Canada where there is a significant diaspora of Pakistani muhajirs.

It is generally believed in Pakistan that the MQM was created by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the main military intelligence agency in Pakistan. It was created to break the stronghold of Benazir Bhutto in her home province, Sindh. ISI believed that the ethnic tension between Sindhis and Muhajirs would distract Benazir Bhutto and her political party, Pakistan Peoples Party, from launching a campaign against the military government of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Altaf Hussain was living in Chicago at the time and was called to form a Muhajir ethnic political party with funds supplied by the ISI.

The success of MQM in attracting support of Muhajirs both surprised and scared the ISI. This unexpected popularity helped the MQM to chart its own independent political course rather than follow the ISI agenda. MQM went out of control of ISI and began a violent struggle for Muhajirs that turned Karachi into a virtual war-zone. In 1992, after months of extreme violence by the MQM, the Pakistan Army launched a military operation to restore law and order in Karachi. The MQM gunmen were killed or arrested, and armories and torture rooms were destroyed. The Army involvement is an indication of the seriousness of the crisis that MQM perpetrated in Karachi. Since the army operation and the subsequent heavy activities of Pakistani police and paramilitary, the MQM has given up its violent activities.

Viewpoint of Muhajir Intelligentsia

The highly educated class and intelligentsia of Muhajirs has given up its support for MQM, as it has totally failed to stand up for the rights of Urdu speakers. They think that instead of fighting for their rights, MQM has killed their own people i.e Muhajirs during the Haqiqi and Haq-Parast feuds. A true nationalist party would never kill the people, for whose rights its fighting for. Now their opinion is gaining popularity in a significant portion of Muhajirs.

Bloody Memories of Army Operation

Although Pakistani army was successful in busting the violent activities of MQM, it was also responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent people, Who had nothing to do with the activities of MQM. It is believed that Pakistan Army deliberately murdered hundreds of innocent Muhajirs, to terrorize and subjugate them. Similarly hundreds of Urdu speaking people were tortured to death in the police and paramilitary torture cells. It is estimated that as many as 10,000 native Urdu speakers lost their lives between 1992 and 1996. Nearly half of them died in the Haqiqi and Haq-Parast feuds, while the rest were killed by the Pakistan Army, Police and Paramilitary forces.

Muhajir celebrities after 1947

See main article for complete list: Famous Muhajirs

Politics

Judiciary

Diplomats

Bankers

Industrialists/Entrepreneurs


Religious Scholars

Educationists

Scientists

Art and literature

  • Moulvi Abdul Haq (father of modern Urdu)
  • Syed Qudrat Naqvi (Scholar, Critic)
  • Josh Malihabadi (poet, linguist)
  • Nasir Kazmi (poet)
  • Dilawer Figar (humorous poet)
  • Mahir-ul-Qadri (critic, linguist)
  • Sadequain (painter, calligraphist)
  • Rais Amrohvi (journalist, psychoanalyst)
  • Jon Elia (Poet)
  • Jamiluddin Aali (Poet)

Performing art and media

Sports

References

Notes

  1. taken from cia world fact book figures based upon the 1998 census of pakistan
  2. the 1998 census was generally believed to under count the mohajirs as was reported by major newspapers at the time

External links

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