Pir
Pagara and the Power he Wields in Pakistan
Dr
Zafar Altaf
THE
WILY Pakistani politician, Pir of Pagara is now a days again in
the news because of his role in the reunification of different
factions of Muslim League to help General Pervez Musharraf to
tighten his grip on power.
He
has always been taking pleasure in the company of military rulers
of Pakistan. Now a days, he is close to General Musharraf and
has already advised him to become president of the unified PML.
But,
many would be knowing that how Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (ZAB), also
from Sindh, had actually tried to manage the Pir. ZAB came to
power after the debacle in East Pakistan and he was for making
the country powerful. In the process he was to look for ways to
keep control of his own home province for if that went haywire
Punjab would be difficult to handle. Whether he was right or wrong
is difficult to say.
With
97,000 prisoners of war in India in the aftermath of the independence
of that wing ZAB probably did not want any splinter group to make
adverse noises in the country. I was at that time Deputy Secretary,
Home Government of Punjab. One fine morning I received a telephone
call asking for a document that the British had written on the
father of the present Pir Sahib of Pagara I was not aware of it
but the President and later Prime Minister was and he wanted a
copy of the same. The same is not available in the archives of
the province. So an important document has gone missing. ZAB did
have a copy of the document and used it to break into the strong
holds of the Pir Sahib of Pagara
Jam
Sadiq Ali, one of Pir's disciples, a Khalifa, was taken
out of the fold of that rigorous and skilful movement. This was
unheard of and the British had tried all kinds of actions, very
atrocious and very inhuman and on most occasions had failed. ZAB
probably wanted to know what were the interventions that the British
had made and not to repeat the mistakes of history. ZAB was a
man of history and read voraciously.
It
is difficult to keep the Pir Sahib of Pagara out of the political
news and again this time he did it. He is a fascinating person
and has diverse reading habits. I saw him pick up a book on development
and horse racing. Skilful all the way.
The
present Pir Sahib of Pagara’s father finds mention in the
autobiography of Sainrakhio translated by Lambrick, an ICS officer
who served in Sindh This gives an insight into the nationalist
activities of the Father of the current Pir Pagara, and this continues
till today. The Muslim League factions have been joined together
by the Pir again and this despite the current state of affairs
in the political arena. It is terribly confusing. The Pagaras
have always been influential in their region and this has not
abated either with time or with modernism. It is a committed community.
And its commitments are insured by the Pir of Pagara
There
is so much that is not understood by the Islamabad mind and so
much that is not understood by the Punjabi or the Army mind. The
country has never tried this intervention in the development of
and harmonizing a society that has been rent asunder by the conflict.
Sindh is now going through a crucial period thanks to the water
sector and the conflict fueling activities of IRSA, the water
institution, that is to resolve and manage the water issues. But
all this is water on duck’s back.
Pir Pagara father was known to have had a tremendous following
in Sindh and when he was tried in 1936 by the infidel British,
his lawyer was Mohammed Ali Jinnah, later to become the leader
and founder of Pakistan. Pir Sahib was sentenced to jail term
of 8 years and was deported to Bombay and then transferred to
Calcutta. The autobiography speaks of the harmonious living of
the Muslims and Hindus despite the numbers. Strict orthodoxy is
not practiced in Sindh and there is usually no distinction and
no hatred either between the Hindus and the Muslims. The two religions
are even, and living in harmony. There are no riots, no hatred
and no prejudice.
That
is why the Hurs stood together during the 1965 war against India.
The Pakistan Army was not deployed on the Thar border and the
vast expanse of Sindh desert was open to the enemy. India could
have chosen the area of its operations and could have done irrevocable
damage to the country. It was the Hurs that showed that they could
be easy substitutes for the Army. Hurs and their camels did a
terrific job as and when they were required.
Practically
every Sindhi high or low has his Pir, his religious guide. The
Sindhis to this day flock to the shrines. The Hurs consider the
Pir Pagara as literally their God on earth. The British did use
coercive methods on the Pir and his followers. The Criminal tribes
act. Lambrick, the ICS Hur Commissioner in times to come, came
to respect the Hurs for their valor. The symbolism of the Hurs
as indicated in Lambrick’s translation is revealing and
fascinating. When in joy phrases like ‘Your words fall on
my ear like rain on the desert’. And again ‘As is
the crow so is the crows children’. In fact the belief system
was that one had to believe in as a Hur before the trust for anything.
The fountain of falsehood had to be removed. And talking of traitors
for they have riddled the brotherhood from within just as white
ants devour the tree. And when the Pir Sahib was sent to Kolkotta
jail for eight years, the Hurs were demolished because there was
no one to guide them.
There
are about 60 listed Pirs in Sindh The list is by no means exhaustive.
The most famous amongst them is the Pir of Pagara The politicization
of the Pirs was akin to what the British had done in the rest
of India. It was to create a system of asset building that would
force the influential to become part of and coterminous with the
interests of the Raj in India. Religious inconsistency was to
be the guilt of the Pirs for they had then to acknowledge that
the British were their ‘bosses’ in so far as land
alienation and ownership of assets was concerned.
There
were various kinds of grants that were provided for the Pirs.
There was also a Khairati grant (Charity) and the idea
being that the more they were dependent on the Raj and its leadership
in India, the more they were going to be reliable for the Raj.
Others
since partition have lost out. The Pir Sahib has not and that
was partly because of one of his Khalifas, Jam Sadiq
Ali. He became senior minister in the first Bhutto government
because ZAB was able to wean him away from his duty to the Pir.
Having done so and because he was Senior Minister in Sindh he
became the President of the Sindh Cricket Association.
In
that capacity I was to meet him many times. On one occasion I
was to see him on a Sunday. It was impossible for me to get to
him. His residence was the KDA rest house near Hill Park. I then
realized the awesome authority of Pir Sahib for Jam was living
in a fortified house with automatic weapons all round. The Hill
Park was a security area as it overlooked the KDA rest house.
I managed to have a peep at the house from that vantage point
and was finally able to see him after much security checks.
Jam
Sahib was eventually forgiven by the Pir when he acknowledged
his mistake many years after ZAB’s death. The alienation
of state land in favor of Pir Sahib was carried out and his word
was the unwritten law in that government. The influence of Pir
Sahib has increased over time because of his ability to predict
the happenings in the political system. He has been in a manner
inconsistent with the rest of the political personalities of his
time. The difference is that he was never in the race of political
favors for himself being assured of his spiritual and temporal
powers.
The
Punjabi politicians have sought power through the elected representation
and then have turned on their own policies. Every time they were
to take a decision that was in the larger interest of the country
they would change their stance in favor of those currently in
power.
Is
Sindh reliable and we hear lots of rumblings on the scene, water,
development issues, political leanings with one of Jam Sahibs
lieutenants now leading SDA, for Sh. Imtiaz has learnt his lessons
well while working with Jam Sahib. So what is the influence worth?
Much. If only someone was to understand the minds of the Pirs
of Sindh. All of them have left an indelible mark on the economic
and body politic of that region. It was not for administrative
reasons that Sindh was taken away from the Bombay Presidency.
The reasons were very cogent. The lessons of history have never
been understood here. The points of similarity and the points
of departure have never been appreciated over the points of reason.
Pakistan has a long way to go. It has yet to resolve old issues
and to take care of the new ones. Unfortunately a policy of subjugation
is not going to do any good.
It
was at one of the meetings of the Planning Commission [where the
Deputy. Chairman was a Sindhi of high eminence] that I used a
salvo knowing what he was all about. I looked over his head where
tenets of Islam had been beautifully put in place and I said that
how come that this place is not following any of those tenets.
The words in gold were Al-Quran, Al Biyan, Ar Rahim, Ar Rehman.
The Sindhi ICS officer looked at me while his secretary [a Punjabi
and a powerful one with relatives in high places] started shouting
at me. I retaliated and said if this one man mob is going to get
his way by shouting I was equally capable of shouting and may
be the louder man wins.
The
Deputy Chairman looked at me and understood which way the wind
was blowing and said ‘Dr. Sahib what do you want’
The reply from me was again out of the ordinary and I said ‘Normally
sir I want you to analyze what I have written in the document
but seeing that even you have not read the document let me give
you its brief concepts and I want that that concept be approved
and the nuts and bolts can be approved by your people who only
want to see transport reduced and number of jobs cut down. A time
will come when the few will be so over burdened that nothing will
be done by them and then they have the magic carpet to move around’.
I got an affirmative answer.
What
can the people of Pakistan do to understand the provincial mind?
What is the culture of power? What is the culture of subservience?
What is the overriding and over arching social condition that
will lead to the kind of coherence that this body politic needs,
that is the requirement of the country if it is to go from a country
to a nation?
Thought
lines and thought processes become important? But then we have
been guilty of so much. I once met the KDA minister and suggested
to him that he has an opportunity to be famous if he could develop
Karachi. Back came the reply ‘Dr. Sahib I have 64 cases
of murder registered against me and I have been made to look like
the biggest scoundrel so what is another case of corruption going
to do. I know that if I am with the government of the day I will
survive and if otherwise I will be on the run. My life is simplified
by the agencies that run this country’.I tried to tell him
that we have never run we have always crawled. To no avail.
So
how are the Pirs of Sindh going to be helpful? In many ways. The
answer I am not going to give. My friends and my enemies from
Sindh are many. They are powerful and they are what they are to
me and I like or dislike them depending on the side they are.
But why am I not preaching? There are many reasons and we will
allow them a ‘well left’ option that the batsman can
use in cricket. It’s a judgmental situation and I have to
be grateful to cricket for this and much more. More on the social-political
system later on?
The
writer is a former Federal Secretary, Government of Pakistan
