Role of Biradari System in Power Politics of Lahore: Post-Independence Period
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ROLE OF BIRADARI SYSTEM IN POWER POLITICS OF LAHORE: POST-INDEPENDENCE PERIOD A thesis submitted for candidature of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Muhammad Ibrahim 2009 Department of Political Science & International Relations Bahauddin Zakariya University MULTAN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The idea to initiate research on biradari politics of Lahore is given by Dr. Khalid Aftab, the Vice Chancellor Government College University Lahore. I thank him for setting me on this path. He always encouraged me and continually guided me in spite of his heavy official responsibilities. I owe a great debt of gratitude to him. I owe an inestimable debt of gratitude to Professor Francis Robinson, Royal Holloway College University of London. He is so kind, generous and encouraging who actually trimmed me and my research on right path. He spared ample time for me even of his very busy schedule and after every meeting with him I felt a new energy and enthusiasm in myself. I have deep regards for my supervisor Professor Ishtiaq Ahmed Chaudhry. He continually guided me. His valuable advice helped me in giving a final shape to the thesis. I am fortunate to find friends at London whose support in initiating my research is a great worth to me. Dr Avril Powell (SOAS), Markus Daechsel (Royal Holloway College), Yasmin Khan (Royal Holloway College), Amna Khalid (Oxford), Ravindar Kaur and Justine Taylor (archivist, Honourable Artillery Company). Many thanks to them for their long discussions and listening patiently to my research work at the cafeteria of British Library London. I would like to express my deep regards for Professor Gilmartin, Ian Talbot and Mathew Nelson those gave me new ideas and approach towards the study of biradari politics. Colleagues in the History Department at Government College University Lahore my thanks to: Dr. Tahir Kamran (Head Deptt. of History), Dr. Farhat Mehmood (Former Head of the Deptt. of History and the senior visiting Professor), Hussain Ahmed Khan, Tahir Jamil, Waheed Usmani and Professor Mehmood Bazmi (Punjabi Deptt). The staff of India Office Library (London) helped me much and my special thanks to Mr. John and Zulfiqar Bokhari. For support in Lahore, my thanks to: Adrees Hanif (Naib Nazim, Lahore Municipal Corporation), Professor Aslam Tariq, Dr Alam Khan, Shoab Khurram, (Superintendent of Police), Khashnood Khan, (LMC – He died during my research), Anwar Kadwai, (Daily Jang), Shafique Mirza (Daily Jang), Naeem Mustafa (Daily Jinnah), Yaseen Mughal and most important Omar Misbhaur Rehman For hospitality and companionship in London my thanks to: Saddique Akbar, Imran Bashir, Munir Marth, Katie Hyman, John Hyman, Ali Zaman and Mahaesh. I am thankful to The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan in sponsoring me for my research study at Royal Holloway College University of London. Finally I would like to express my sincere thanks to my wife Asma Magsi and daughters, Nashmia, Ghania and Bakhtawar those suffered greatly because of my absence from Pakistan. Particularly my daughters tolerated my eight months separation at very early age. Contents Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………………… Chapters I. Short Abstract ………………………………………………………………(i) II. Introduction …………………………………………………………….........1 III. Imposition of colonial rule and the making of the biradari system in 19th century Punjab………………………………………………………………14 IV. The emergence of the public sphere and how the biradaris interact with it (A) The emergence of the public sphere…………………………………….52. (B) The biradaris and their engagements with the public sphere. V. Displacement and Development: The challenge of refugee settlement and the biradari response from 1947-1970………………………………………….85 VI. The challenge of industrialization and the biradari response 1947- 1999…….......................................................................................................112 VII. Living in the City: The challenge of massive urban growth and the biradari response1947-1999……………………………………………………… 141 VIII. Conclusion………………………………………………………………….181 i Short Abstract A closer look at the history of colonial and post-colonial Punjab reveals that in the context of Pakistan, the study of power politics has assumed added significance as it provides an explicit example of manipulation of power through biradaris. It shows a situation in which biradaris are used as a tool of manipulation of political authority with which to compete for control over scarce resources and the remnants of colonial rule. In Pakistan’s political history this area has received scant attention. Power politics, if ever studied, is only dealt with at a macro level by emphasizing the role of military, bureaucratic elites and politicians represented by landlords. It would not be out of place here to look at a biradari in such a way as enables us properly to compare it with a tribe or a caste, etc Biradari (literally meaning ‘brotherhood’) is the most important kinship system in Pakistan. The present study intends to analyse how the Colonial Raj defined and re-defined local identities which subsequently formulated the power configuration in post-colonial societies with particular reference to Lahore. The importance of the biradari as the organizing principle of social life is so well recognized that it is seen as a gate-keeping concept in relation to the social anthropology of the Pakistani Punjab. The Punjab, and particularly Lahore, has gone through a conspicuous demographic transformation in the aftermath of Partition in 1947. Before Partition, Lahore was almost an ideally typical colonial city and during that period the economic base of Lahore, like the rest of the Punjab, was in ii agriculture. The agricultural interests were the foremost concern of the city’s politics. But at the end of colonial rule, the accumulated results of British policies and administrative departments that were established in Lahore after the annexation of Punjab in 1849 have changed the original rural outlook of Lahore dramatically to an urban view. In addition to this, the painful aspect of Partition for both India and Pakistan was the huge demographic upheaval. This created the single biggest refugee movement in history which produced a huge influx of refugees into Lahore. After 1947, the newly-settled biradaris gave a new focus to the district’s power politics. The researcher believes through analysis and evidence that the biradari system has been one of the major factors influencing every election which has taken place since 1947 and the biradari system is still playing a very important role in the economic and political life of Lahore. The old agricultural colonial Lahore is still growing fast and has developed from a small provincial town into one of the largest cities of the world. The population of Lahore city as the census of 1941 showed was no more than 672,000 inhabitants while the 1991 census placed Lahore’s population at seven million. According to the 2006 census, Lahore's population is expected to top 10 million. In contemporary Punjab the hierarchal structure of the caste system is plainly breaking down to some extent – but in politics, the significance of caste has increased rather than declined. iii Biradarism in post-partition Lahore (1947-1999) is primarily a colonial product and the post-colonial state continued to use the existing ‘over-developed’ state structure that protected, projected and entrenched the biradaris in this system of power. Therefore this study is based on the hypothesis that the dominant biradaris, like Arains and Kashmiris have played an important role in the power politics of Lahore during the post-partition period. These biradaris were used by the governments mostly as organs of control to protect and project their vested interests. The first chapter deals with the introduction about the concept of biradari system. It also describes the origin of the biradari system and the workings of biradris in the district of Lahore. The researcher has tried to explain biradari as “a system of mutual protection”. It also explains the introduction of the thesis and all relevant research questions are being discussed in detail. The second chapter deals with the imposition of colonial rule and the making of the biradari system in 19th century Punjab. The researcher has elaborated the circumstances leading to the annexation of the Punjab in 1849. It also describes the administrative structure of the colonial rule. Land revenue and settlement process is explained in detail. The researcher has also tried to explain the customary laws which were adopted by the colonial rulers in Punjab and more particularly in Lahore. iv The researcher has also discussed in detail how the British dealt with Jagirdars, the landed gentry during Ranjit Singh era. The method to control was devised rationally introducing certain administrative policies. The British tried to exercise enough control to create more effective linkage between the apparatus of colonial rule and the masses of the ruled. Securing support of the local elites, whose collaboration became vital for the safeguard of the colonial interests, the British had granted considerable autonomy to the villages through the co-option of influential men in the villages and the locality. The co-option procedure was initiated through lumberdars, Zaildars, ala-lumberdars, Honorary Magistrates and Municipal Committeemen. They were all collaborators to make colonial rule more effective and acceptable. The researcher has elaborated the establishment of Zaildari & ala-lumberdari systems.