The London School of Economics and Political Science Profit, Piety, and Patronage: Bazaar Traders and Politics in Urban Pakistan
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The London School of Economics and Political Science Profit, Piety, and Patronage: Bazaar Traders and Politics in Urban Pakistan Umair Javed A thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, January 2018 1 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorization does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 84,754 words. 2 Abstract This thesis studies the political and social practices of prosperous bazaar merchants and traders to understand the dynamics of power and authority in contemporary urban Pakistan. Broadly, it considers how propertied groups, such as traders, maintain their dominant position in Pakistan’s political sphere, and how the consent of subordinate classes is structured to reproduce this persisting arrangement. Drawing on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork in a large wholesale bazaar of Lahore, this thesis demonstrates that bazaar traders accumulate power and authority through a fused repertoire of transactional bargaining, material patronage, and Islamic civic leadership. By mobilizing voluntary associations, and forming personalized relations of reciprocity with state functionaries and political elites, traders are able to reproduce their material and status privileges through political access and co-optation of public resources. Such networks also position them as patrons and brokers for the urban poor who work in marketplaces, helping the latter resolve pressing issues of everyday subsistence, while sustaining ties of exploitative dependence in the process. These ties are simultaneously legitimized through an accompanying cultural politics grounded in religious ideals. Bazaar traders remain deeply embedded with Islamist actors and play a central role in administering mosques, seminaries, and religious charities. Therefore, notions of piety, divinely ordained class and status hierarchies, and benevolent civic virtue - disseminated and popularized through their articulation and performance by bazaar traders – shape the cultural frames under which class authority and material conditions are interpreted by subordinate groups in marketplaces. Ultimately, these processes act as the building blocks of a persisting arrangement, wherein the influence bazaar traders possess through economic resources and their authority over the urban poor is transacted with weak political parties during elections, thus underpinning the reproduction of Pakistan’s elite-dominated political sphere. By documenting the everyday power practices of a dominant group and the micro- processes that feed into the political sphere, this thesis rectifies deterministic statist and structuralist explanations for Pakistan’s lasting regime of elite power. It also contributes to ongoing debates on the roles played by the state, political parties, and civil society in the articulation of hegemonic political arrangements. 3 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES 7 LIST OF ACRONYMS 8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 9 LAYING OUT THE RESEARCH 9 WHY THE BAZAAR? 21 UNDERSTANDING POLITICS AND POWER IN PAKISTAN: FOUNDATIONS AND GAPS 26 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS 31 CONCLUSION 39 CHAPTER 2: THE EVOLUTION OF PAKISTAN’S POLITICAL SPHERE 42 CAPITALIST DEVELOPMENT AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF AN AUTHORITARIAN STATE: 1947-196745 RESISTANCE, POPULISM, AND DEMOCRACY: 1968-1976 53 ELITE MOBILIZATION, ISLAM, AND AUTHORITARIANISM: 1977-1988 65 ELITE CONSOLIDATION AND NEOLIBERAL CONSENSUS: 1988-PRESENT 84 CONCLUSION 93 CHAPTER 3: REPRODUCING PRIVILEGES - BAZAAR TRADERS, THE ANJUMAN-I- TAJRAN, AND THE STATE 95 SHAH ALAM BAZAAR AND MUSTAFA MARKET 96 DEMOCRACY AND HIERARCHY IN THE BAZAAR: THE ANJUMAN-I-TAJRAN MUSTAFA MARKET (ATMM) 104 REPRODUCING STATUS, GAINING PRESTIGE: ASSOCIATIONAL WORK AND WEALTHY TRADERS 113 FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS: THE TAJIR BIRADERI AND THE STATE 120 CONCLUSION 131 CHAPTER 4: EXPLOITATION, PATRONAGE, AND DOMINATION - BAZAAR TRADERS AND THE URBAN POOR 133 NEOLIBERAL CAPITALISM AND INFORMAL LABOUR IN PAKISTAN 134 WORK AND EXPLOITATION IN MUSTAFA MARKET 139 TIES THAT BIND: ASSISTANCE AND PATRONAGE IN THE BAZAAR 146 BETWEEN CIVIL AND UNCIVIL SOCIETY: BAZAAR TRADERS AND THE URBAN POOR 158 CONCLUSION 160 CHAPTER 5: LEGITIMIZING AUTHORITY - PIETY AND ISLAMIC VIRTUE IN THE BAZAAR 162 NARRATIVES OF INEQUALITY AND AUTHORITY 165 THE GENESIS OF ISLAMIST IDEALS IN PAKISTAN 175 DIVINE PRIVILEGE: TRADERS AND ISLAM IN MUSTAFA MARKET 183 CONCLUSION 195 CHAPTER 6 – TRANSACTING ALLIANCES, STRUCTURING CONSENT: BAZAAR TRADERS AND PARTY POLITICS IN LAHORE 198 FRAGILE DEMOCRACY AND WEAK PARTIES 200 BAZAAR TRADERS AND PARTY POLITICS IN LAHORE 206 THE 2015 LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS 222 CONCLUSION 239 4 CHAPTER 7 - CONCLUSION 241 BAZAAR TRADERS AND THE POLITICAL SPHERE 241 PAKISTAN’S PASSIVE REVOLUTIONARY ROUTE 245 AN UNRESPONSIVE DEMOCRACY 247 AVENUES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 250 APPENDIX: LIST OF INTERVIEWEES 251 REFERENCES 253 5 Acknowledgements As with most other dissertations, this one too came together through the support, guidance, and companionship of a large number of people. Foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Michael McQuarrie, who served as a strong source of ideas, assistance, and critique. Any content of sociological value in this thesis is because of his guidance and mentorship, which helped me see past my deterministic and provincial fixations. I would also like to thank Robin Archer and Chetan Bhatt for their insightful criticisms and encouraging feedback at crucial stages of this thesis. I am grateful to my informants, for their patience with my (often inane) questions; to my friends in Lahore and elsewhere for their company; and to Ali Dayan Hasan, in particular, for his sheltering support during my time in London. Over the years, I have learnt a great deal from the company and mentoring of some highly learned individuals, and I owe them all a debt of gratitude. Most of all to Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, whose classes at LUMS, and moral clarity in the world outside, are responsible for guiding many of my life choices since 2009. I would also like to thank S. Akber Zaidi, Ali Cheema, Daanish Mustafa, Asad Sayeed, Ahsan Butt, Mohammad Waseem, and Hassan Javid for their intellectual support and encouragement. I am also deeply indebted to Safiya Aftab and her team at the Awaaz project for vesting faith in my research and providing generous assistance, which allowed me to carry out a portion of this project’s fieldwork. During the course of my doctoral studies, my father was diagnosed with the emperor of all maladies and my mother found herself as his primary caregiver. The reality of my parents coping with this tremendous burden alone pushed me to the precipice of quitting and returning to Pakistan on a number of occasions. However, despite patent hardships, they would have it no other way but for me to see this through. Their strength, consideration, and grace, and the support of my elder sisters, Hareem and Maheen, has been my strongest source of encouragement Finally, I owe my greatest debt to my companion, Fizzah Sajjad, whose intellectual input, moral clarity, and encouraging support remain invaluable on a daily basis. It goes without saying that this thesis, along with much that is good in my life, would simply not be possible without her. 6 List of Figures and Tables Table 1: Population of key cities, 1961-1971 49 Table 2: 1977 Election Results 69 Table 3: Types of Businesses in Mustafa Market 101 Table 4: Descriptive Statistics of Businesses in Mustafa Market 103 Figure 1: Location of Shah Alam bazaar in Lahore district 97 Figure 2: Markets of Walled City Lahore 98 Figure 3: Main campaign billboard in Shah Alam bazaar 229 Figure 4: Election Poster in UC-34 230 Figure 5: Scene from a corner meeting 233 7 List of Acronyms AoP Association of Persons APAT All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajran ATMM Anjuman-i-Tajran Mustafa Market BHU Basic Health Unit BISP Benazir Income Support Program BJP Bhartiya Janata Party CNIC Computerised National Identity Card DC District Collector/Deputy Commissioner DCO District Coordination Officer FBR Federal Board of Revenue GDP Gross Domestic Product IJT Islami Jamiat Taliba IMF International Monetary Fund ISIS Islamic State in Iraq and Syria JI Jamaat-i-Islami LCCI Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry LDA Lahore Development Authority LFS Labour Force Survey LIT Lahore Improvement Trust LWMC Lahore Waste Management Company MNA Member National Assembly MPA Member Provincial Assembly MQM Muttahia Quomi Movement PBM Pakistan Baitul Maal PCP Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy PIAF Pakistan Industrial and Traders Front PML-N Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz PML-Q Pakistan Muslim League Quaid PNA Pakistan National Alliance PPP Pakistan People’s Party PTI Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf QTI Quomi Tajir Ittehad (National Traders Alliance) RSS Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh RTO Regional Tax Office TMA Town Municipal Administration TMO Town Municipal Officer TO Town