Living on the Margins. Minorities in South Asia - EURAC

many regimes would use the Islamic factor, not only for nation-building purposes but
also for legitimizing their policies. Alongside these political convulsions, the
administrative and economic structures remained static. In short, the state and society
failed to achieve interdependence.
In the 1950s, land reforms were introduced in a partisan manner, implemented in the
eastern wing; whereas feudal West Pakistan remained untouched. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s
land reforms in 1972 were cosmetic as landowners were advised in advance to distribute
their properties among their families. Most of the politicians in Pakistan’s Assemblies
come from feudal families. These feudal families have vast trans-regional and transethnic
matrimonial links; and their links with the professional classes further guarantee
the protection of their class-based interests. Significantly, the religious ulama or clerics,
despite their lower middle-class or peasant origins, have not campaigned for the
eradication of feudalism. In rural Sind, heinous practices such as ‘honor killings’,
marriages with Qur’an (mock marriages) are prevalent. In the NWFP, the tribal system
has been shaken up due to migration and socio-economic development in the region.
Within Balochistan, especially in the Bugti and Marri areas, it remains ascendant. In
Balochistan the chieftains like the Sindi waderas (big landowners) exercise absolute
control.
The clerics in Pushtun society have a higher status than those in Balochistan, although in
rural Sind, the Syeds (holy people) and the Sufi orders (piri-muridi), attached to the
shrines of early Sufis command greater allegiance among the people. A Syed or Pir
Wadera is more powerful than an ordinary Wadera. Despite the chauvinist and powerbased
structures underlying these systems, they have generally offered protection to non-
Muslim minorities. The non Muslim minorities – however affluent – do not enjoy equal
social status 11 .
Partition and Demographic Changes
The partition of the Indian sub-continent into India and Pakistan in August 1947 resulted
in one of the largest and most rapid migrations in human history with an estimated 14.5
million people migrating within four years..Pakistani Punjab saw 19.7% of its population
leave. By 1951 25.5% of its population was from across the border. In Indian Punjab,
40.4% of the population left and in 1951 18.8% of the population were migrants. 12 . The
percentage of Muslims fell from 32 percent in 1931 to 1.8 percent by 1951 in districts
that were to end up in Indian Punjab. Similarly, in the districts that became part of
Pakistani Punjab, the percentage of Hindus and Sikhs fell from 22 percent to 0.16% 13 .
Partition left Punjabis divided by the Indo-Pakistani border - Muslims fled east Punjab
after killings and mass expulsions; and Hindus and Sikhs fled killings in west Punjab.
11 For the politics of feudal elitism and the official reluctance to implement land reforms and agricultural
tax, see Hussain, A., Elite Politics in an Ideological State, London, Dawson, 1979; see also Masud, M.,
Hari Report: Note of Dissent, Karachi, 1948.
12 “The Big March: Migratory Flows After the Partition of India”, Harvard Kennedy School
13 “The Partition of India : Demographic Consequences”, Prashant, Asim and Atif
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