“Conquest Without Rule: Baloch Portfolio Mercenaries in the Indian Ocean.”
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“Conquest without Rule: Baloch Portfolio Mercenaries in the Indian Ocean.” by Ameem Lutfi Department of Cultural Anthropology Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Engseng Ho, Supervisor ___________________________ Charles Piot ___________________________ David Gilmartin ___________________________ Irene Silverblatt Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Cultural Anthropology in the Graduate School of Duke University 2018 ABSTRACT “Conquest without Rule: Baloch Portfolio Mercenaries in the Indian Ocean.” by Ameem Lutfi Department of Cultural Anthropology Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Engseng Ho, Supervisor ___________________________ Charles Piot ___________________________ David Gilmartin ___________________________ Irene Silverblatt An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Cultural Anthropology in the Graduate School of Duke University 2018 Copyright by Ameem Lutfi 2018 Abstract The central question this dissertation engages with is why modern states in the Persian Gulf rely heavily on informal networks of untrained and inexperienced recruits from the region of Balochistan, presently spread across Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The answer, it argues, lies in the longue durée phenomenon of Baloch conquering territories abroad but not ruling in their own name. Baloch, I argue, conquered not to establish their sovereign rule, but to open channels of mobility for others. The rise of nation-states and citizen-armies in the twentieth century limited the possibility of Baloch conquest. Yet, the Baloch continued to find a place in the Gulf’s protection industry through historically shaped informal, familial, commercial, and parapolitical transnational networks. Flexible and persistent Baloch networks provided territorially bounded states the ability to access resources outside their boundaries without investment in formal international contracts. Moreover, this dissertation makes the argument that mobile Baloch operated as ‘Portfolio-Mercenaries’, offering their military- labor to foreign states in order to build their own portfolio of transnational economic, social and political activities. At times these portfolio projects contradicted state interests; at other moments they corroborated them. In either situation, the non- soldiering activities of mercenaries went on to transform the nature of political order in the twentieth century space of the Indian Ocean. They shaped the nature of international law, carried state order beyond borders, stabilized unpopular regimes, and provided iv ready sources of labor. Through the example of Baloch Portfolio- Mercenaries, the dissertation thus highlights the thick and enduring relationships between state and transnational networks. v Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my parents Zaeem Lutfi and Shabana Zaeem for their unwavering love and support. vi Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... x Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 1. Conquerors without History ............................................................................................. 28 1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 28 1.2 Top-down conquest versus bottom-up oral histories ....................................... 39 1.3 In-between narratives of portfolio mercenaries................................................. 43 1.4 Rethinking mobile state and society ................................................................... 48 1.5 Three modes of mobility...................................................................................... 51 1.5.1 A historiographical problem..................................................................... 51 1.5.2 Nomadic mobility ...................................................................................... 55 1.5.3 Frontier mobility ........................................................................................ 63 1.5.4 Diasporic mobility ..................................................................................... 77 1.6 The polythetic Baloch Dunya .............................................................................. 93 1.7 Polythetic states? .................................................................................................. 99 1.8 Conclusion: Faqeer Shad’s Baloch Dunya through Bahrain ........................... 103 2. Arms and the Arms That Carry Them ............................................................................ 107 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 107 2.2 Microhistory as global history: state and means of violence in the interwar period .................................................................................................. 117 2.2.1 The partially modern levy force structure ............................................. 117 2.1.2 Primitive accumulation and the separation between vii arms and soldiers ............................................................................................. 121 2.3 The Imam and the Lance Naik .......................................................................... 127 2.3.1 How were Levis recruited? ..................................................................... 127 2.3.2 What exactly were the Imam and the Lance Naik doing in Bahrain? ........................................................................................................ 132 2.3.3 What were their ambitions beyond Bahrain? ........................................ 137 2.4 Deciding between arms and mercenary trade ................................................. 144 2.4.1 Arms and mercenary trade at the regional scale ................................... 144 2.4.2 Arms and mercenary trade at the international scale ........................... 152 2.5 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 157 3. Informal Diplomats: Baloch ‘Parapolitics’ ..................................................................... 162 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 162 3.2 Jumma Khan the diplomat ................................................................................ 179 3.3 Jumma Khan as the familiar Baloch ................................................................. 191 3.4 Jumma Khan the proxy ..................................................................................... 204 3.5 Jumma Khan as political mediator ................................................................... 215 3.6 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 221 4. Getting the Job Done: Flexible Mercenary Recruitment Networks .............................. 224 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 224 4.2 Cyclical reforms in modern bureaucratic Bahrain........................................... 237 4.3 Will Rafiq’s son get a job in the Bahraini police? ............................................. 241 4.4 The swinging pendulum of politics of coercion .............................................. 258 4.5 The brother-in-law’s plan to get Rafiq’s son a job ........................................... 266 viii 4.6 When the pendulum stops, it rests on the Baloch ........................................... 272 4.7 Baloch recruitment without military bureaucracy .......................................... 278 4.8 Conclusion: Geopolitics with a small ‘p’ .......................................................... 285 5. Waderas of Karachi and Portfolio-Mercenaries of Bahrain .......................................... 292 5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 292 5.2 Labor-Migrations to the Persian-Gulf .............................................................. 303 5.3 Changing geographies of exile: from Gwadar to Karachi .............................. 310 5.4 The rise and fall of Baloch in Karachi ............................................................... 319 5.5 Portfolio-mercenaries in Bahrain ...................................................................... 331 5.6 Waderas once more............................................................................................ 343 5.7 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 351 6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 354 6.1 Mercenaries as a norm ....................................................................................... 354 6.2 Seeing through mercenary eyes .......................................................................