THE%20SINDH%20STORY

British rule ended the preferential treatment of Muslims under Muslim rule, and
held the scales of justice even between the Hindus and the Muslims. Given equal
opportunities, the Hindus forged far ahead of the Muslims, because of their
traditional interest in education and business. Soon they dominated the services,
the professions, trade and industry. The Muslim was confined to land and crafts.
So much so that when partition took place and refugees arrived in Sindh, they
wondered how Pakistan could be established in Sindh. They said: “There are
more Muslims in Lucknow and Patna than in Hyderabad and Karachi in Sindh.”
The Sindhis had always traded with foreign lands. Their slogan was: “Service is
lowly; agriculture is noble; but trade alone is profitable.” Thousands of years ago
they had traded with, and even settled down in, eastern Mediterranean, as
Phoenicians. Shah Latif has a whole lovely “Sur Samundi” on the annual trading
expeditions to Lanka, Java and China. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869
gave a tremendous impetus to this trade. Beginning with Sindhi arts and crafts --
- hence the name “Sindh- worki” for them --- they soon ranged all the way from
textiles to curios to diamonds.
When the British took over, the Hindus did not hold any land. The British gave
land to the retiring officers, most of them Hindu. The wealthy began to buy lands
at market price. The improvident Muslim landlords began to mortgage lands to
the Hindu money-lenders, who gradually acquired the same on default. In one
century of British rule, the Hindus had come to, acquire about 40 per cent of the
land. Another 20 per cent was believed to have been mortgaged to them. Some
Muslim League leaders --- particularly Sir Abdullah Haroon --- made this into a
big issue. Here was a gentleman who started life as a cycle-repair assistant on
four annas a day, and ended up as a crore-pati, who grudged 30 per cent of the
population .(Hindus) owning 40 per cent of the land! He could never see the
initial iniquity of the Hindus (30 per cent of the population) holding zero land
under the Muslim rule. However, many other Muslim leaders noted that the
peasants were happier with the Hindu zamindars than with the Muslim
zamindars. They also noted that many Muslim zamindars did not want
education to spread --- for fear the next generation of educated tenants might ask
for more rights.
The real reasons for this shift of land-ownership were two: the Hindus who had
been starved of land for centuries, felt the natural human urge for land --- and
now they went in for it. Secondly, the impecunious Muslim habits stood in sharp
contrast with Hindu prudence. A Muslim tended to spend beyond his means; a
Hindu tended to save and invest. A popular saying was that when a Hindu had
money, he would buy or build more and more houses (Jaye Mathan Jaye); when
a Muslim had money, he would marry more and more wives (Joye Mathan Joye).
The Sindh Story; Copyright © www.panhwar.com
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