Our anti-Punjab clamour — 1 —Aamir Riaz
Daily Times March 13, 2012
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\03\13\story_13-3-2012_pg3_3
Daily Times March 13, 2012
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\03\13\story_13-3-2012_pg3_3
Putting all the blame on Punjabis is a post-1971 syndrome. From 1947 till 1971, the pro-centralist Pakistani establishment remained busy in managing the Bengali majority, while after 1971 they had a desire to weaken the remaining four provinces, especially the Punjab, so that no one could challenge the centralist forces
These days Punjab is under discussion. The resonance of an anti-Punjab clamour was heard recently even in the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, regarding Balochistan. Here I need to write about the Punjab and its liberal-progressive history of the 20th century, which looks problematic.
In colonial times, there were two types of struggles and it was the Punjab that had both examples: the Ghaddar Party and the Unionist Party, both secular. It was the Punjab that produced Iqbal and Faiz, and if our intellectuals re-read the Allahabad address, they will realize that the Allahabad address 1930 and the August 11, 1947 speech are both examples of a liberal, progressive appeal. After partition, it was Mian Iftikhar-ud-din of the Punjab who resigned as Minister for Muhajreen (Refugees) on a principled stand, advising Liaqat Ali Khan to stop playing vested interest games regarding land and property left behind by Hindus and Sikhs. In 1949, it was Ghulam Muhammad of Mochi Gate, Lahore, who was the major hindrance in making the Objectives Resolution a full part of the constitution. It was Suhrawardy and Mamdot who created the first opposition party, the Jinnah Awami League. For the Bengali issue, responsibility was laid on the nexus of the civil-military bureaucracy, which had their own institutional interests. They were/are neither Punjabi nor Pakhtun but strictly wedded to their institutional or personal interests. They used Urdu and Islam to construct a centralist authoritarian state.
Putting all the blame on Punjabis is a post-1971 syndrome. From 1947 till 1971, the pro-centralist Pakistani establishment remained busy in managing the Bengali majority, while after 1971 they had a desire to weaken the remaining four provinces, especially the Punjab, so that no one could challenge the centralist forces. Politicians pre-empted it, and then the makers of the 1973 constitution included a clause that is still vital regarding provincial autonomy. Even General Zia once said that he wanted to divide Pakistan into 100 provinces. For the last 30 years it is in the interests of Punjab to build Kalabagh Dam (KBD). In a meeting, Khan Abdul Wali himself had said that he alone could not have stopped the construction of the KBD. It was General Zia who was not interested. If the theory of ‘supremacy of Punjabis’ is true, then why had they failed to build KBD?
Anyway, let us look at the first half of the 20th century in Punjab first. From the 19th century till today, Punjab remained victim of the Frontier Forward Policy (FFP). In 1808, Metcalf came to Lahore to engage the Punjab government. It was his desire, as written in his report, that Punjab would help them in the British military campaign in Afghanistan and beyond. They needed a safe passage from Lahore to Torkham, yet the then maharaja of Punjab refused three times. To destabilise the Punjab government, the British sponsored a jihad in the leadership of a man from Bareli from 1836-1831. A lashkar was raised in central India, and according to Francis Robinson, the British Governor of Bengal allowed Syed Ahmad Shaheed and company to collect funds from the bazaar. It is a hard fact that jihadists with the help of the imperial power started their journey from Delhi via Rajasthan, and after crossing Sindh and Balochistan, moved toward Peshawar via the Afghan frontier. Just imagine: at that time the British and Afghan government and jihadists all were united against Punjab, but everyone knew that Punjabis did not support orthodox Islam. The US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, tries to repeat history vis-à-vis Balochistan.
It was the Royal Bengal Army (RBA) that fought three wars against the Punjab. It is to be remembered that the RBA consisted of soldiers from UP, Bihar, Maharashtra and Bengal. Annexation of the Punjab was a leap forward in the process of FFP. After annexation of the Punjab, the British wanted to build an army from Punjab so that they could capture the historic old trade link, the Silk Route. To fulfil that purpose, they tried to convert the trade and agro-based Punjab economy into a garrison economy. Before annexation of the Punjab, the British had never used the term martial races, yet after annexation their intellectuals extensively used the term martial races for Punjabis who lived between Jhelum and Attock. The British wanted to recruit them. In the early 1850s they not only had a policy to reduce the RBA but also allocated a huge budget for the development of an army from newly annexed Punjab. In 1857 the war of independence was a reaction against the new policy. The reaction of the RBA sepoys has some resemblance with the jihadists nowadays who suddenly turned anti-US when the US stopped funding of the Afghan jihad and signed the Geneva Accords in 1986.
After the successful Ambella campaign of 1862 near Swat, British forces had ample control over the plains as well as mountains of the Punjab. To boost the garrison economy, they built canal colonies, and introduced schemes like cow and horse breeding, which served the garrison economy in multiple ways. It was a demographic as well as an economic shift in the Punjab. Since then, a battle is being fought within Punjab between the garrison economy and others. After annexation of Punjab, the new war front was Afghanistan and beyond. Now they wanted to recruit an army from the Punjabi areas adjacent to the Afghan frontier. To appease the Punjabis, under the instructions of Lawrence, they started massive construction in Lahore, introduced Railways, constructed buildings and formed schools in specific areas. They built a canal system to feed and recruit army. They distributed lands among loyalists who were subservient to the garrison economy. They followed the Maharaja and shifted Northern Command Headquarters to Rawalpindi.
(To be continued)
The writer is a Lahore-based editor and researcher. He can be reached at aamirriaz1966@gmail.com
Part 2 link
http://punjabpunch.blogspot.com/2012/03/our-anti-punjab-mayhem-ii-aamir-riaz.html?view=classic
These days Punjab is under discussion. The resonance of an anti-Punjab clamour was heard recently even in the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, regarding Balochistan. Here I need to write about the Punjab and its liberal-progressive history of the 20th century, which looks problematic.
In colonial times, there were two types of struggles and it was the Punjab that had both examples: the Ghaddar Party and the Unionist Party, both secular. It was the Punjab that produced Iqbal and Faiz, and if our intellectuals re-read the Allahabad address, they will realize that the Allahabad address 1930 and the August 11, 1947 speech are both examples of a liberal, progressive appeal. After partition, it was Mian Iftikhar-ud-din of the Punjab who resigned as Minister for Muhajreen (Refugees) on a principled stand, advising Liaqat Ali Khan to stop playing vested interest games regarding land and property left behind by Hindus and Sikhs. In 1949, it was Ghulam Muhammad of Mochi Gate, Lahore, who was the major hindrance in making the Objectives Resolution a full part of the constitution. It was Suhrawardy and Mamdot who created the first opposition party, the Jinnah Awami League. For the Bengali issue, responsibility was laid on the nexus of the civil-military bureaucracy, which had their own institutional interests. They were/are neither Punjabi nor Pakhtun but strictly wedded to their institutional or personal interests. They used Urdu and Islam to construct a centralist authoritarian state.
Putting all the blame on Punjabis is a post-1971 syndrome. From 1947 till 1971, the pro-centralist Pakistani establishment remained busy in managing the Bengali majority, while after 1971 they had a desire to weaken the remaining four provinces, especially the Punjab, so that no one could challenge the centralist forces. Politicians pre-empted it, and then the makers of the 1973 constitution included a clause that is still vital regarding provincial autonomy. Even General Zia once said that he wanted to divide Pakistan into 100 provinces. For the last 30 years it is in the interests of Punjab to build Kalabagh Dam (KBD). In a meeting, Khan Abdul Wali himself had said that he alone could not have stopped the construction of the KBD. It was General Zia who was not interested. If the theory of ‘supremacy of Punjabis’ is true, then why had they failed to build KBD?
Anyway, let us look at the first half of the 20th century in Punjab first. From the 19th century till today, Punjab remained victim of the Frontier Forward Policy (FFP). In 1808, Metcalf came to Lahore to engage the Punjab government. It was his desire, as written in his report, that Punjab would help them in the British military campaign in Afghanistan and beyond. They needed a safe passage from Lahore to Torkham, yet the then maharaja of Punjab refused three times. To destabilise the Punjab government, the British sponsored a jihad in the leadership of a man from Bareli from 1836-1831. A lashkar was raised in central India, and according to Francis Robinson, the British Governor of Bengal allowed Syed Ahmad Shaheed and company to collect funds from the bazaar. It is a hard fact that jihadists with the help of the imperial power started their journey from Delhi via Rajasthan, and after crossing Sindh and Balochistan, moved toward Peshawar via the Afghan frontier. Just imagine: at that time the British and Afghan government and jihadists all were united against Punjab, but everyone knew that Punjabis did not support orthodox Islam. The US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, tries to repeat history vis-à-vis Balochistan.
It was the Royal Bengal Army (RBA) that fought three wars against the Punjab. It is to be remembered that the RBA consisted of soldiers from UP, Bihar, Maharashtra and Bengal. Annexation of the Punjab was a leap forward in the process of FFP. After annexation of the Punjab, the British wanted to build an army from Punjab so that they could capture the historic old trade link, the Silk Route. To fulfil that purpose, they tried to convert the trade and agro-based Punjab economy into a garrison economy. Before annexation of the Punjab, the British had never used the term martial races, yet after annexation their intellectuals extensively used the term martial races for Punjabis who lived between Jhelum and Attock. The British wanted to recruit them. In the early 1850s they not only had a policy to reduce the RBA but also allocated a huge budget for the development of an army from newly annexed Punjab. In 1857 the war of independence was a reaction against the new policy. The reaction of the RBA sepoys has some resemblance with the jihadists nowadays who suddenly turned anti-US when the US stopped funding of the Afghan jihad and signed the Geneva Accords in 1986.
After the successful Ambella campaign of 1862 near Swat, British forces had ample control over the plains as well as mountains of the Punjab. To boost the garrison economy, they built canal colonies, and introduced schemes like cow and horse breeding, which served the garrison economy in multiple ways. It was a demographic as well as an economic shift in the Punjab. Since then, a battle is being fought within Punjab between the garrison economy and others. After annexation of Punjab, the new war front was Afghanistan and beyond. Now they wanted to recruit an army from the Punjabi areas adjacent to the Afghan frontier. To appease the Punjabis, under the instructions of Lawrence, they started massive construction in Lahore, introduced Railways, constructed buildings and formed schools in specific areas. They built a canal system to feed and recruit army. They distributed lands among loyalists who were subservient to the garrison economy. They followed the Maharaja and shifted Northern Command Headquarters to Rawalpindi.
(To be continued)
The writer is a Lahore-based editor and researcher. He can be reached at aamirriaz1966@gmail.com
Part 2 link
http://punjabpunch.blogspot.com/2012/03/our-anti-punjab-mayhem-ii-aamir-riaz.html?view=classic
I want to add that Innocent Punjabis are always manipulated by Cunning leaders of Other Provinces and still they are being being exploited. Bhutto was a Sindhi but he ordered Army from Punjab to wage action in Balochistan so that later on he and Balochs could blame Punjabis for problems. Then Rangers were formed in Karachi to launch operations in Karachi and Punjabis were employed by Sindhis to wage operation against MQM and now MQM blame Punjabis as well. Then in KPK again Punjab Regiment is being used for actions in FATA and SWAT operation was conducted by Majority army from Punjab.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly now Situation in Gilgit is worsening and this time again our loyal Sindhi Cunning leaders are sending Punjab Rangers to Gilgit rather than Frontier Corpse. Punjabis are intentionally held on controversial positions to later blame them and that is why MR Rehman Malik is being made the minister to again blame Punjabis.
Also I have a question to the cunning non Punjabi Elite Leaders of Pakistan and Generals in Pakistani Army that tell me why Sindh Regiment of Army is not employed to conduct actions in Karachi and why rangers recruited from Punjab??? Why for Operation in Balochistan FC and Balochistan regiment is not used????. Again why for operations in KPK FC, Northern Light Infantry and other units of KPK are not employed.
The answer is simple that cunning leaders will always employ soldiers of Punjab only for Operations so that Punjabis could be blamed and Sindhi , Baloch and Pukhtoon leadership will remain happy in blaming Punjabis for every bad thing imaginable.