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Dynamics of Biraderi Politics in the Punjab with Special Reference to District Toba Tek Singh

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Dynamics of Biraderi Politics in the Punjab with Special Reference to District Toba Tek Singh Dynamics of Biraderi Politics in the Punjab with Special Reference to District Toba Tek Singh Nabila Akhtar Session 2008-2011 Registration No. 71-GCU-PhD-Pol-Sc-2008 Roll No. 407-PHD-08 DEPARTMENT of POLITICAL SCIENCE GC.UNIVERSITY, LAHORE 2014 I Dynamics of Biraderi Politics in the Punjab with Special Reference to District Toba Tek Singh Submitted to GC University, Lahore in partial fulfilment of the requirements For the award of Degree of PH. D. In Political Science By Nabila Akhtar Session 2008-2011 Registration No. 71-GCU-PhD-Pol-Sc-2008 Roll No. 407-PHD-08 DEPARTMENT of POLITICAL SCIENCE GC.UNIVERSITY, LAHORE 2014 II III IV V VI Acknowledgments All praises are for the creator of the Universe ‗Allah Almighty‘! First of all, I am highly thankful to my Allah, the most gracious and merciful whose bestowal makes me complete my research work. Research is a hard task and one has to be prepared oneself strong morally and mentally. I owe my gratitude to honour Dr, Khalid Manzoor Butt, Chairman, and Department of Political Science for his guidance and help when I was hung-up during my study. He has always been very kind and considerate. He is the person who brought me out from the doldrums situation when I stuck and left to complete the task. He took a special interest in my research and gave me some valuable tips. His kind support has enabled me to accomplish this task. My heartiest gratitude is due for my supervisor, Dr. Sadia Mushtaq, who guided and helped me to complete this research. She was the person who put me on the track whenever I was confused or suffered by any indeterminacy. Through formal and informal discussions with her, I got many valuable ideas for the topic under study. I shall always remain indebted to her for her encouragement and treasured advice and for taking great interest in my work. I am highly grateful to Late Professor Javaid Ahmad Shaikh Ex - Chairperson of Department of Political Science who was my mentor and gave inspiration to me to do this task. It is difficult to pay gratitude in words to him because he deserves more than that. I owe my thanks to Late Prof. Muhammad Azhar Ch, the former Chairman of Department of Political Science, who encouraged, and guided and supported me during my research into his life. I am also obliged to Dr, Tahir Kamran of Cambridge University, Dr. Khalid Javid Mukhdom and Dr. Farooq Hassnat for their guidance. Also thankful to Ian Talbot, professor of History at the University of Southampton, he reviewed my proposal of study and gave a valuable feedback. I would like to extend my gratitude to Ms, Fauzia Ghani, and Mr, Naseer Ahmad, the faculty members of the Department of Political Science GC University Lahore. I am also, gratified to the Government of the Punjab, especially to Mr, Javeed Iqbal Bukhari the District Coordinator Officer, District Toba Tek Singh for providing me important material and guidance for my survey and research about the official information of the district. I acknowledge that without his help it will be very difficult to gather the required material. I am thankful for the staff of Quaid Azam, Library, VII Lahore, Punjab Public Library, Lahore and Zila Council Library of District Toba Tek Singh. I am thankful to Mr. Abdul Waheed, Chief Librarian, GC University Lahore Mr. M. Naeem Librarian who arranged for me some very rare books and material for my research. I should remain grateful to Mr. Ahmad Saleem, who also helped in collecting the material. I also acknowledge the help of Dr, Fauzia Naz of Psychology, Ms. Rabbia Lecturer in Psychology and Ms. Rabbia Bukhari, Lecturer in Statistics of Queen Mary College they extended their help regarding statistical tests of the data which enabled me to have some scientific verifications of my survey. It is pertinent here to owe my gratitude to my colleagues at Queen Mary College, Mam Irfana Khalid, Abida Ismail, Nabeela Akber, Ghazala Tasneem, Shaheen, Hina Rashid, Asma Shabir and Navida they all support me during my research work. I am also thankful to my nephew Gohar Ishtiaq who assisted me in formatting my research work. He showed patience in bringing changes in the script again and again. Without his assistance and hard work, the work would have been unending. I am very much grateful to my respectable loving father Haji Muhammad Rafique who always remained praying for me to accomplish this task. Taking advantage of this opportunity, I would like to say thanks to my inspirational and beloved husband Ajmal Hussain, who always encouraged me and support me to fulfil my mission, not only for his support but also for his patience. He used to put me out of the tensions and provided me an amiable environment to complete my thesis. I owe especial thanks to him. Last but not least, I am grateful to my kids Sobaan, Kewaan, and Roshaan who remained accommodating during all the period of my research and never demanded excessive time from me. Along with that, I want to thank my brothers Javaid Rafique, Zafar Bhai and sisters Naheed, Naveed, Salma, and Samina, who support me and pray for me. My prayers and love would always be with them. VIII Abstract The existence of the biraderies (Brotherhood, clans)1 in the social set up of any society is an acknowledged fact. Biraderi politics are deeply impacted on the societal setup, norms, and rituals and culture and politics of specific state if agriculture based economy exists there. Even the rapid changes of the world and the long time span do not affect the persisted nature of the biraderi system and the self- established phenomenon rules over the lives of the members that undermine the independence, free will and consequently affect the process of democratization. The biraderi is the most predominant identity insignia in Pakistan. The biraderi forms an imperative dynamic element in an individual‘s life, particularly in the central parts of the Punjab. The analysis and evidence reveal that the biraderi system has been one of the major factors influencing the democratic process since the inception of Pakistan and the politics of biraderies is still playing an important role in the economic and political life of Toba Tek Singh. In contemporary Punjab the hierarchal structure, of the biraderi system is plainly breaking down to some extent – but in political process the significance of biraderi politics has augmented rather than declining in post-independence period that is primarily a colonial product and the post-independence state continued to use the existing ‗over- developed‘ state structure that protected, projected, and entrenched the biraderies in this system of power. The historical, political junctures of colonial and post-colonial Punjab discloses that in the milieu of Punjab, the study of biraderi politics has probable new significance as it provides a rational model of manipulation of power through biraderies. It postulates a state where biraderism is used by biraderies as a tool of manipulation through social, economic, and political abstract power by which to strive for control over scarce resources and the remains of colonial rule. In Punjab‘s 1 The word caste in Pakistan is different from the word used in Indian caste system. Here we mean a group of people having the same caste such as Rajput Jatts and Arains. However, the word derivation of the term “Biraderi” comes from Persian word “Bradar” which means „brother‟. In different Urdu dictionaries meanings for the word Biraderi “Zaat and Quam” are used. In Ijaz-ul-Lughat it is meant as “Bhai Chara” (Fraternity) and as “Bhai Bandi” (Brotherhood). Whereas, in Farhang-e- Asfia it‟s meanings describe as “Goth (Sub caste), Zaat (Caste), Groh (Group), Jamat (Class), Sangat (Companionship), Gharana (Family) and Risht-e-dari (relatives) IX political history this politico-sociological aspect has received little attention. Biraderi politics, if ever studied, are only dealt with at a national level by stressing the roles of bureaucratic, military elites and parliamentarians that represented by the landed aristocrats. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to analyse through an empirical method that to what extent different following variation of the social, economic and political dynamics of the biraderi politics create adherence in Punjab and thus influence the process of democratization with particular reference to District Toba Tek Singh. 1. Social dynamics; social structure like family, culture, occupation, religion, education, status, titles, gender discrimination 2. Economic dynamics; Economic stability, Wealth, land, business, class structure, dependence, employment 3. Political dynamics; Political participation, e.g. political awareness, elections, voting behaviour, political parties. This study is based on the hypothesis that the domination of biraderi politics is affecting the process of democratization through its socioeconomic and political manoeuvring and hence restricts an individual to take independent decisions. While using the structured questionnaire tool, a survey was conducted in the 21 Union Councils of the district Toba Tek Singh. Results show that dynamics of biraderi politics played an important role in all social, economic, and political aspect of individuals‘ life and his emancipating powers are pledged by this biraderi system.; on the whole 70 to 80 % respondents had endorsed ―Biraderi Politics Questionnaire” of this study and has shown that biraderi politics is affecting the process of democratization. People are well aware of the biraderies ties and evidently reflected their inclination to keep supporting the contesting candidates in the future elections who affirm by their own relevant biraderies. The biraderies, like Arains and Jatt, Sayyed and the native biraderies Kharral are the dynamic biraderies of the District Toba Tek Singh those are dictating the individuals to participate on the basis of biraderi prejudices or biraderism.
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