Pakistan Quarters

#7Tariqji

I do not have any personal experience or testimony of hardship faced by `refugees` from both east and west pakistan
neither did i mean to suggest they were well adjusted compared to `muhajirs` of pakistan....
The saga of Partition has been discussed many times so i will spare the trauma and dislocation of people on both sides....
India has even more problem because of its dozen of languages and refugees from B desh can only survive in West bengal similarly Punjabis are confined to north and western india if i am correct...
In the end the whole scenerio can only be explained by destiny and will of god...it was meant to be

Re: # 4
Yes you are right, but why do the immigrants to India keep on asserting how well they have been assimilated, and how nationalists they are?. Perhaps you can enlighten me aout that.
tariqz

Re: # 1
Sorry for offending you, but who said anything about Altaf being my leader. You see too much in my article. About your suggestion about following somebody abroad, the thought never occured to me. Anyway, I have been there, and found out that there is no place like your home, and no better people to live with than those with whom you have been living with since your childhood. Your suggestion anyway smacks of worst form of chauvinism. Some people have taken up the burden of deciding who can live in this beautiful country, and who cannot without truly understanding the dynamics of nation building, and the crucial role immigrants can play, in making a nation great. Just look at U.S.A. which was made great by immigrants, and the journey goes on.
Author

Muhajirs have literally made Pakistan possible. The Urdu speaking Ethnic group is the real creator of Pakistan. What they have got in return??? Total discrimination in Jobs, Educational Institutions, Politics, Armed and Police forces and Other areas. Thousands have perished in the brutal and barbarian Army and Police Actions and also by their own fellows i.e MQM. This so called political group has done the greatest harm to the Muhajirs.

I m afraid that if Pakistan remains intact then there will be no Muhajir representation in the Pakistani establishment and civil bereaucracy by the next 20 years. They will also be a neglected and poor ethnic group. I would request the Muhajir intelligentsia to get rid of that old selfishness and fight for rights. Every Muhajir who gains some position just totally forgets his fellows while the people of other ethnic group shower blessings on their lingual groups. That`s a fact in Pakistan.

Anyone has knowledge of how india and its incoming refugees( from newly formed Pakistan) experienced and by now adjusted ....

After all pakistan is not the only country in History to have had mass movement of people across borders ..more recently Bosnia and i guess palestenians come to mind

Mohajirs were/are the establishment....!! Period.


80-85% of them are/were in the Govt Jobs.



the Rizvis, jafris, siddiques,Nomanis, ...quereshis....etc..etc..etc...etc..and...etc.

in every Govt Department.


and with 70% concentrated in Sind , especially karachi, created a Unique Urban/Rural Divde.....which is no where else in Pakisstan.

the remaining 30% , have well assimilated and integrated themselves in the core Pakisani Life....without any problem.

with so much concentration in One City, and along with dying punjabi beaurucray , ZA Bhutto tried to bring a sembelance of Balance , viz-a viz representation in the Govt, hence
the dreaded and notorious Quota System....

which Cut deep in their traditional occupations of Govt Jobs, created resentment.....hence the sense of vicimhood.... hence resentiment which took militant form under Altaf.


Result.... 2 generations of Youth of Karachi, has been crimnalized.

I agree with #1, particularly the last para. The MQM part is a bit incoungrous here, and the author would have done well by dispensing with it in favour of highlighting some prominent personalities who became prominent later. Besides, MQM had its origins in Liaquatabad and not Pakistan Quarters which was home to some very educated and eminent families.

I was raised a Pakistani first. Grandson of the so-call mohajirs, I feel offended by this article. It started off ok but ended with mindless encomium of MQM.

I should not be saying this but if this Muhajir is having difficulty fitting in, I think he should do what the leader of MQM did whose pictures have appeared naturally on betel leaves, tree trunks etc. As followers of MQM blindly chanted, `Hamein manzil nahin rahnuma chahiyay`; i think you should follow your leader because he surely has found his `manzil`.

In its heydey, Pir Altaf Bhai commanded blind following like Malcolm X. He could have asked the community to setup industries, universities, colleges etc and mohajirs including myself would have poured their hearts out. But what he did was destroy a generation, make themselves a terrorist organization and mercenaries, forced employers to hire incompetent employees who just went there to collect salaries, propounded the bhatta `extortion` culture etc.

It goes to credit of Mustafa `Kudaal` Kamal and his predecessor Naimatullah Khan that they started development projects in this ignored city of Karachi. If it was not for Naimatullah`s legacy and MQM`s fear of permanently losing Karachi to Jamatis, they would not have worked on development and would have done what they do best: thrive in lawlessness.