PAKISTAN AND THE MUSLIM WORLD

2002: 9/11 and the Muslim Point of View               

            On the day of 9/11 I was in a small factory to purchase a few items for my store. No one knew at that time that this disaster would change the whole world. However, the business was running as usual until I realized that something of great importance had occurred. I immediately returned to Deer Park and started discussing the consequences of the disaster. I was, that time, serving as Advisor to the Mayor of Houston for the South Asian Affairs and I was the only Muslim working in the City Hall. I was bombarded with so many calls. My first message to people was to keep calm and state that this had been a coward act by few misguided people and the Muslims in general are law abiding and honest people.

As the news started coming in my initial view about the incident, which I shared with my close friend Shameem Ahmed, was that this was not an act of few misguided Muslims as they could not be equipped with such precision to hit the targets so efficiently and so accurately. Knowing the Muslims’ insight into engineering and aeronautics, I doubted that they were the right culprits to create such disaster. However, I continued my quest and talked to so many politicians, educators and government officials and have found that Muslims have the different perspective of this incident.

On the other side, the Jewish people, after the holocaust, have the fear that this time the Muslims will try to eliminate them from the earth. This inner fear and after so many wars in Middle East, they wanted to ensure that the Muslims are weakened to the extent that they cannot rise in any field of life. Jewish leadership has very wisely captured the financial markets of the USA and controls the economy and the policy making of the country. The Christians knowing that it was Jews, who crucified Jesus Christ, still collaborate with the Jews to fight with the Muslims. Today most of the Muslim world is in turmoil. The USA, outwardly, and Israel, inwardly, control the policy where to strike and who to take for accomplishing their goals.

To undermine the Muslims and justify the war on terror, this plan was exercised by the help of Musad, CIA, and other agencies approved by the President of the USA. According to so many reports, it has been established that there was no plane, which hit Pentagon, as the span of the plane was far bigger than the hole it made in the Pentagon. Also crashing of the plane with full fuel tanks should have burnt half of the Pentagon; whereas some photographs show that books in the next room were found intact. The theory is that it was a missile that hit the Pentagon.

The Muslim theory is that this plan was executed on a special Jewish day to minimize Jewish casualties. The planes did take off but in reality are not the ones to hit the Twin Towers. Two windowless guided planes equipped with missiles, were actually part of the plan to hit the bottom. They were guided to hit the twin towers with full precision and accuracy. I talked to so many pilots who fly 747s and according to them no one with flying training of small planes can hit those targets with such perception and accuracy. Some footage showed by the US media that there was a blast before the plane’s hitting the tower. It is suggested that this was a planned demolition of the twin towers to create conditions for the government to justify any action against any Muslims in the USA and abroad.

During President Clinton’s time a small plane deviated from its course and in merely three minutes 14 F-16 surrounded that plane and forced the landing before it could go close to any targets of importance. It is a mystery to reflect that how come those F-16, which control the Washington DC air space, did not get airborne to chase down the planes supposedly off their course.

According to initial radio reports, two planes were flown in Cleveland Airport. No one was allowed to disembark the plane due to the blazing news of the twin towers’ being hit. Subsequently, those two planes were rerouted to unknown destination. Perception is that the real planes were diverted to clear way for the guided planes, which hit the twin towers. And the two planes cited to be used in this terrorist act were actually crashed some where else. Also stories of the plane crashing in Pennsylvania have different versions. For instance some say it was a missile that blew the plane and not the terrorists. The planners wanted to make sure that every one on board those three flights would be dead, to ensure the safety and secrecy of the plan. If it is true, this could be the most sophisticated plan ever executed in the history of the world.

Even with the twin towers melted and with thousands of gallons of jet fuel burning, the USA government without a hitch found the passports of a few Muslims so to prove their presence on the accident scene.

Moreover, word has been that the people shown as the terrorists were CIA operatives bought forth; and their identities were released to blame the Muslims. So far none of those have been identified and none of their relatives have come forward to claim that those people existed. Theory is that those people are either killed or paid enough money to keep their mouth shut.

One theory is that these were the Saudi citizens serving jail times whose pictures and passports were provided by the Saudi government and they were executed. This could be one reason why all the important Saudi nationals were boarded in specially arranged planes to leave the USA while all the air traffic was suspended in the country. As per this theory, it incriminates the Saudi leadership to be part of this conspiracy.

The kernel is that a mission was carried by the USA in collaboration with Israel. This subsequently created grounds for Iraq invasion and now in advance to hit Iran. The Muslim perception is that due to the Israelis’ fear that one day the Muslims might hit them with an atom bomb and eliminate the entire Jewish race from the map of the world. Hence they want to make sure that no Muslim country has hand on the atomic arsenals. The USA policy makers are hostages to the Jewish lobby. They cannot win even a small scale election without Jewish help. Most of the politicians are forced to follow the policy to destroy the infrastructure of the Muslim countries and stop them from raising their heads against the gigantic power of the USA. Systematically, the US has weakened all the Muslim countries by acquiring full control over oil reserves and world economy.

To cut short, now the Muslims feel that this is the conspiracy of mankind where the US government and Israel killed their own innocent people to achieve their long-term goals to weaken the Muslim world. Their perception is that 9/11 was the biggest intrigue of the history and will be revealed one day.

1999: Pakistan A Failing State                

            For more than two hundred years the British ruled the Indian subcontinent, which now is composed of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. The British were pushed out by force; however, before they left, they partitioned the subcontinent, thereby, creating many unresolved issues and border disputes. This was done deliberately to make the people of the subcontinent believe that the British rule was better than self-rule. In particular, the creation of Pakistan consisting of two parts, 1,000 miles apart, and the unresolved Kashmir issue have kept this Muslim State in complete disarray for the last 53 years.

            This conspiracy took its first toll in 1971 when Bangladesh, afforded nominal fundamental rights, and took refuge from the minority province, West Pakistan, which had ruled it for 24 years. Since then, the rest of Pakistan which has been ruled by one of the biggest militaries of one of the poorest countries of the world has taken this country, at the edge of collapse and breakup, into further tiny fragments based on linguistic and cultural conflicts. The concept of one Muslim State has failed in Pakistan. While most of the people pray five times a day, fast for thirty days in Ramadan and sell their households to go to Mecca for pilgrimage, they are still divided just on the basis of language and culture. In this toxic society, there is neither rule of law, nor value and respect for good. Furthermore, corruption has been accepted as the way of life and all institutions have failed, thus, bringing the country close to economic and moral collapse. Economic frustrations push several young people daily toward committing suicide. In Pakistan, billions of rupees are spent to build palace-like houses that are surrounded by garbage and filth; thus everyone is deprived of the basic needs of clean and a healthy environment.

            During a recent private gathering of some army officers, politicians, bureaucrats and foreign diplomats, one of the top analysts observed: “After talking to you, I get the impression that every thing is fine in this failing state.” He implied that all the fancy talks our army officers, politicians, bureaucrats and intellectuals made to impress each other and outsiders were simply a white lie. I believe the collapse of Pakistan is inevitable because a country without a permanent constitution, stable political and judicial institutions, lacking basic amenities and infrastructure, and prevalent lawlessness, is, God-forbid, seems to breakdown.

            Recently I met a few academics and intellectuals who believed that Pakistan had already failed on paper, but no one dared to accept this hard fact. A country, which was a close ally of the United States of America for the last fifty years, had been categorically told by President Clinton: “Thank you for your past support and friendship but you are no longer useful in our interests.” On the other hand, India, in the same span of time, has established high-class institutions and maintained democracy along with development of science, technology, industrialization, and production of war arsenals. India forced the world powers to negotiate business contracts with them and ignore their long time friend Pakistan.

Pakistan has been run on a political experiment. I call this a 10-2-2 formula: 10 years of army rule, 2 years of Muslim League, and 2 years of People’s Party rule. However, one high-ranking politician corrected me and claimed that Pakistan had actually been ruled by the Punjab-dominated military, since the assassination of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan. According to this source, politicians are used as pawns, whenever military wants political cover to show the world that Pakistan is a democratic country; however, Armed forces are in control behind the scenes. As soon as the time is ripe, they fire the political governments and if threatened, they make sure to lay the political leaders to rest, as they did to Liaquat Ali Khan and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. At present the military and its secret service agencies control all the political institutions and demand seventy percent of the national budget exclusively for the armed forces. Additionally, they indirectly control the rest of the budget by deployment of retired army, air force, or navy personnel from the bottom to the top in civil, semi government and other financial institutions. This gives you a feel that you are living in an army state.

Once I wrote to General Pervaiz Musharaf that politicians admit that they are involved in 10-20 percent of the national wealth corruption, but the military was involved in the rest of the national budget, and army has become thoroughly acclimated to the corrupt ways of life. So far he has shown no moves to cleanse the forces from this disease, but he and his associates are busy in crucifying the political leaders.

During the tenure of Benazir Bhutto as Prime Minister of Pakistan, the then Chief of Army Staff insisted that defense secretary release the army budget on a post facto basis without the approval of the Prime Minister, who happened to be on a foreign trip. When the Defense Secretary phoned the Prime minister to approve the release of the budget, Benazir Bhutto instructed him to wait until her return. To her surprise, upon her return, a summary of post facto approval was on her desk. The Defense Secretary informed her that the Chief of Army Staff had left him only with two choices: (i) either to release the budget or (ii) be prepared for a military coup. Such utter abuse of power and disrespect for law and institutions does not show any hope for the well being of this country.

Once a friend of my father asked him to request one of his colleagues for a favor; my father told him that his colleague would not oblige him, but if he would take Quaid-e-Azam (Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan) –a metaphor implying his picture printed on the currency notes, often used in colloquial expression- to his colleague, then he would surely oblige him. I am glad that Quaid-e-Azam, who led the efforts for the creation of this country as the only Muslim State created in the name of Islam, has yet not lost his value. His picture on the currency of Pakistan has the top value to buy anything: judiciary, politicians, bureaucrats, and members of the white elephant armed forces.

The main problem with Pakistan is the lack of National honesty barometers, where 70-80% of the people are corrupt and rest of the 20-30% are trying their best to secure a position where they can also exploit the system. Today, when visiting homes of some army and government officials, I wonder how they can afford such lavish standards of living with their regular salaries.

The biggest concern I have is that the Talibans, due to lack of American attention, have been scattered all over Pakistan after achieving their goal to break the Russian Empire. And these militants, drug and arm dealers are training and recruiting a new generation of militants who cannot earn their livelihood. This has created conditions of civil war, which may eventually result in a fundamentalist revolution like Iran. According to one source, the Talibans have established 700 schools under the cover of Islamic education in Sindh province itself and are training militants in these schools who intend to bring fundamentalist rule in the country. This should be a wake up call for the American policy makers because if and when such a revolution breaks out in Pakistan, it is going to catalyze an inevitable war between Pakistan and India resulting in destruction of all American interests in the region. The American policy makers have turned their back from their fifty years close ally to capture a huge economic market of India. But American policy makers do not realize that a war between India and Pakistan with all the nuclear arsenals will drown all their investments in India. Therefore, it is very important to resolve the Kashmir dispute.

Following are a few suggestions that can rescue Pakistan from total disintegration.

The USA should mediate the Kashmir dispute, hold an UNO-supervised referendum to find out the will of the local people as to whom they want to live with or if they want an independent state of Kashmir.

The USA should provide quick economic aid to Pakistan to restore its economy with a pre-condition to restore democratic institutions.

Once the Kashmir issue is settled, Pakistan must reduce its army to 50% and divert the funds to improve basic infrastructure, education, health, etc.

Reduce duplication of bureaucracy by giving full autonomy to the provincial governments and keep foreign affairs, defense, and railways with the central government. Keep Provincial Liaison Officers which coordinate central government efforts with various provinces. To improve relations between provinces, rural and urban areas, fair share be given to all to prevent the state from failing. At present all of the smaller provinces think that they are under the umbrella of the Punjab, most populated province and, in particular, largest producer of the army personnel; hence, there seems to be no way to get a fair share in any walk of life.

All elections should be held on a 2-year tenure basis; however, the Prime Minister should be elected for a 4-year term, unless he/she is removed from office by vote of no confidence. All elected representatives must relinquish their seats if they leave the party on whose ticket they have been elected to ensure party crossovers are discouraged.

Amend the constitution to safeguard political and democratic institutions and make the judges liable to be hanged if they give mandate to illegal takeover of the democratic institutions.

The press has to be free, yet needs to be controlled. It must inform the common man of the critical issues faced be the nation, rather than serve special or self-interests.

Industrialization is the backbone of the progress of any country. Maximum efforts must be made to establish industrialization, computer hardware and software industry, along with heavy machinery and tool complexes. Privatization of the major industries must be carried out with ample legal protection to industrialists to protect their investments.

All the defaulters of government loans should be jailed until they settled their dues so that the country can be saved from financial bankruptcies.

Reduce the foreign embassy staff to the minimum except in important countries.

Most importantly, reduce expenditures and invest in the well being of people by providing them with the basic needs of life.

 2003: Immigrant Leadership             

If you study world history, you will come across the fact that 95% of immigration occurs due to financial reasons. Most of the immigrants coming from the third world countries come to USA to achieve financial independence. They use right and wrong means to achieve their goals. After they become financially independent, they realize that money does not bring glory and fame. So they start their campaign to be recognized with their communities. Then, these people become active members of civic organizations and become philanthropist by using some charitable organization to achieve their ambition. This is where again they manipulate right and means and vicious tricks to achieve their goal. Once they are a part of any civic or charitable organization, they use old political school of thought to divide and rule, make dictatorial decisions to achieve the leadership of those organizations. This breed of politicians once in leadership role do not want to leave the power and glory and use all the right and wrong methods to keep themselves in the front lines. They discourage the new line of leadership and undermine their capabilities to come forward to the leadership role. So the fight for power begins, they use the community as their pawn and keep on trying to prove to everyone that they are the only ones doing an excellent job for the community. However, their actions are directed for personal gain and glory. In the process if there were a few sincere leaders who want to do something positive for their communities without any financial goal or personal glory, become the biggest victims of these selfish leaders.

War breaks out between good and evil. This is the reason civic organizations of immigrants do not flourish and remain in chaos at all times. The main problem is the lack of tolerance; excessive greed of power and projection of personal glory. All this drives away sincere people and ultimately leadership remains in the hands of a few selfish and self-centered people. In some cases, if a clash between two leaders with similar evil agenda starts, it splits the community by starting parallel organizations to undermine the democratically elected leadership. We do not accept the will of the people and do not let the elected office bearers to work for the community but to keep them busy to defend their actions. Why? The reason is that by birth most of the immigrants are born during dictatorship rule and it becomes their second nature to believe in absolute power whenever they get a leadership role. Though we preach for democracy and democratic values, but are reluctant to accept majority’s decision during the elections and never accept the elected leaders. From national level to smaller civic groups the leaders do preach to have belief in democratic values but fail to give the people the rights outlined by a true democracy. In the end, most third world countries cannot claim to have practiced democracy in the real essence. This is the reason why democratic institutions never flourish and people’s desperation goes deeper and they are disgusted by the system. This frustration brings an evil action and ends up on killings of the innocent people. In general, it is the poor who suffer from the arrogant decisions made by our leaders. The rich get richer and the poor go down in the hole deeper day by day.

If we have to survive, we must learn the rule of playing right, keeping community or national interest a prime consideration to make decisions, encouraging young leaders to come forward and take the leadership role to give new life to communities.

A few years ago, in summer, I visited the United States Senate building to make a speech. During the lunch hour I saw hundreds of young kids ranging from 16-25 years of age eating lunch with us. Upon my inquiry I found out that those were mainly interns working for nothing to learn how the government functions. This program not only brings free labor for various elected officials but also produces next generation of bureaucrats and elected leaders. This is the reason there is no lack of leadership in developed countries like the United States as compared to any other country in the world. The United States believes in the true essence of the democracy and work constantly to improve infrastructure and upgrade the standard of their institutions. This is the reason why the United States is the most desirable country to migrate to. Immigrants do come here with the hope to be part of this society but lack desire to follow the basic principles of democracy.

I urge the leaders of every level from third world countries to learn the value of right and wrong and stop believing in mighty power. Finally truth prevails and eventually two wrongs do not make a right. We must produce second generation of leaders rather than creating suicide bombers. We need to provide ground for the young generation to work hard, play by the rules and achieve excellence in every field of life.

1996: Why the Sindhis are suffering in Pakistan         

Sindh has been the oldest name in the world, as the history of the world is known. Excavation of Mohan Jo Daro near Larkana, Sindh revealed that Sindh was one of the richest areas in the sub continent. This is why all outside warriors wanted to capture Sindh, hence turning this area into a battleground throughout the history. In recent times Sindh became independent province of united India in 1936 when it was divided from Bombay. Research has showed that history of Sindh has been quoted in Bible and old Parsi holy book Zanaosta. The point is that Sindh is the oldest civilization and the Sindhi language has been the richest of all. Sindh was the first to vote to confederate with Pakistan. Most of the immigrants from Hindu dominated areas settled in province of Sindh during 1947. However after 57 years of joining the federation of Pakistan, Sindh has still been the battleground for its self-existence due to hospitality extended to their Muslim brothers who migrated from India. Today the minority with collaboration with army and intelligence agencies rules the majority of Sindhis. Most of the businesses and key jobs are held by the immigrants. The common Sindhi wonders why they voted to be part of Pakistan which was supposed to bring all the Muslims together under one roof and provide justice for all the citizens. Here are a few of their problems and some solutions to bring this nation at par with the other Muslim brothers of Pakistan.

1: Identity Problems:

Since partition of greater India, most of the Muslims migrated to Sindh and most of the Sindhi Hindus migrated to India. Before partition, the Sindhi Hindus were dominant in education, business and government jobs. The people of Sindh were excited to join Pakistan with a hope that after departure of the Hindu Sindhis they should get opportunities in various fields of life. However, their dream of getting government jobs was never fulfilled, mainly due to lack of strong leadership that was dominated by the feudals and jagirdars. These leaders had the fear that if the education was made available to the common Sindhis, these people will come in direct confrontation with their feudal power. Therefore local Sindhi became the victims of the ignorance on both sides resulting frustration against the federation of Pakistan. On the other hand immigrant Urdu speaking people who were already educated and had been working with English government before partition came and took over the majority of government and policy making positions keeping local Sindhis at the back seat. First Prime Minister of Pakistan Liaqat Ali Khan (immigrant himself) made all the efforts to settle the Urdu speaking people by giving them all the properties and lands abandoned by the Sindhi Hindus by word of honor through claims. As such this new minority supported by the government started ruling the local people. My father who was Rehabilitation Commissioner Hyderabad Sindh to settle immigrants in 1947 used to tell stories including one that when immigrants came to Lahore by trains the local Punjabi people diverted them to Karachi by telling them that they are still inside Indian border. This one factor has kept Pakistan under constant danger of breaking up into smaller pieces. If the immigrants were evenly distributed within the four provinces we might have been more Pakistanis than the Sindhis, Punjabis, Mohajirs, Pathans and Baluchis. This one conspiracy has brought us at the verge of war and we are against each other’s throat. Immigrants, who came to Sindh instead of learning local language and local culture, started to impose their language and culture on the locals. This resulted in identity crisis for both of these factions and a fight for identity started. And today Sindh is the most polarized province in which Urdu speaking people though living in Sindh do not like to be called as Sindhi but proudly call themselves as Mohajirs. The same people when settled in USA proudly call themselves Americans, but hate to be called Sindhis. The Sindhis, on the other hand, took thirty years to get a little education and have finally realized that they have lost their identity. They are now trying to recapture political and social status in the country causing an internal war between these two ethnic groups. Very recently a top researcher revealed to me that Pakistani establishment does not consider the Sindhis and the Baluchis to be part of the federation therefore constant conspiracies have been triggered against them to undermine their communion to be part of the Pakistani culture. In recent days a minority political party has been ruling the government of Sindh with systematic manipulation and intrigue of the federal government just to secure their position on the federal level. This is causing a severe identity crisis with the Sindhi people who thought Pakistan would bring to them democracy and equal rights after the Hindu domination was eradicated. However, from the frying pan to sauce pan they are still at the same juncture of identity crisis. They cannot join the armed forces, higher government positions and cannot be part of the policy making. Gradually, this frustration has created the same feelings as in our Muslim Bengalis, who, finally fought a war within and acquired a separate state for them: Bangladesh. Unfortunately the rulers of Pakistan have constantly considered the Sindhi second class citizens of Pakistan which will consequently frustrate them and provoke to fight against the federation.

2: Political Problems:

Since the partition, most of the Sindhi leaders who traded their integrity with the army junta and the establishment were given higher positions. Ayub Khoro, Moula Bux Soomro, Pir Illahi Bux, Kazi Akbar and many more were appointed leaders. They were busy in nothing but consolidating their positions rather than serving their constituents. People of high standing like Pir Sahib of Pagaro stood behind the establishment to safe guard their own holdings ending up no representation of the common Sindhi at high level. One unit was forced to Sindh and national capital was moved to Islamabad to weaken dependence on Sindh. On the other hand, most of the fertile agricultural land was allotted to army officers and the Punjabi landlords who eventually became highly forceful to contest elections and take away political seats which were Sindhi based constituencies. From one dimension, outsiders captured the economy; from another, political seats were taken away from them reducing their political stature to a minority within the elected assemblies. To further weaken the Sindhi political power, the establishment gave birth to the MQM, Jamait-I-Islami, and a few other small factional groups. And now a party with majority Sindhi elected members cannot form the government in Sindh. During Shaheed Bhutto’s tenure as Prime Minister it was the first time an all-Sindhi-members government was established due to clear and free elections. However, once Sindhi language was prescribed to all schools of Sindh, such high caliber people as Raees Umrohi screamed out loud: “Ye ja raha he janaza Urdu ka”. This resulted in counter demand of Urdu language. As soon as Sindhi language was prescribed a compulsory subject to be also leant by the Urdu speaking clan, a big political roar was registered.

Moreover, the establishment conspired with the Urdu speaking political leaders not to accept the early elections held by Bhutto to create conditions for army take over. Hanging of Bhutto and firing of three Sindhi prime ministers: Mohammed Khan Junejo, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi and Benazir Bhutto (two times) are regarded as conspiracy against Sindhi politicians. Politicians like G.M. Syed, Mumtaz Bhutto, and Hafeez Pirzada who raised questions of rights of Sindh were buried in illegal cases and put in jail to divert their attention from the cause of Sindh. Sindh Governor Azeem Daudpota was fired only because he refused to issue statement in favor of Kalabagh Dam which is considered to be against the interests of Sindh.

Cunningly, Mohammed Mian Soomro was appointed as Governor of Sindh with pre-condition to issue statements that Kalabagh Dam is not against the interests of Sindh: he conveniently signed the statement and is still a favorite of the establishment. Most of the Sindhi politicians who have raised voice for Sindh and its issues have been jailed. Presently, except for a few, politicians like Rasool Bux Palejo, Pir Mazhar Ul Haque, Nisar Khoro have been sidelined creating a big political vacuum in Sindh.

3: Financial Problems:

            Sindh, being mainly dependent on agriculture, always promoted production of fast moving goods but never observed serious attention to trade and commerce. Most of the businesses were captured by the Urdu-speaking people particularly the Gujrati Memons the Aghakhani merchants. They kept the local Sindhis at an arm’s length. The Sindhis were more interested in becoming clerks than entrepreneurs with a result of complete financial dependence on the non-Sindhis. Though it has been their fault still they consider establishment responsible for this problem. The final result is that till today very few Sindhi entrepreneurs are active in the financial field.

When the government brought in the quota system, smart immigrants achieved forged domicile certificates to stand eligible as rural candidates and stole jobs from the native Sindhis. This way Mohajirs found a way to capture seats, which were reserved for interior Sindh. Many people like Dr. Ishrat Hussein, Governor of the State Bank, reached to high levels by forging their domicile to rural Sindh causing a severe resentment within Sindhi people.

4: Language Problems:

After the partition, Urdu became the national language and was accepted by the Punjab, Baluchistan, and NWFP provinces. However, the Sindhis did not accept the Urdu language because Sindhi is a richer language than Urdu. As a matter of fact, Sindhi is richer than English, which was analyzed by a German scholar Enimery Schemel, in a research paper published in the mid 70’s. However, Urdu was forced upon the Sindhis as a compulsory subject in curriculum from high school whereas Sindhi was never made a compulsory subject for immigrants. This is considered as a conspiracy against the Sindhi language. The Mohajirs never tried to learn Sindhi, and during Bhutto’s regime, when it was introduced at the lower level schools, it resulted in linguistic riots. The Sindhis felt that Mohajirs took over not only their land, but also their language. This became their wake up call.

Sindhi is a rich language and Sindh has produced poets like Shah Latif, Sachal Sarmast, Sheikh Ayaz, etc. They had the same caliber and charisma as Allama Iqbal or Faiz Ahmad Faiz. But, they are never acknowledged by our nation and in particular by the Urdu-speaking intellectuals. Karachi television station used to telecast only 30 minutes of Sindhi programs out of full day’s schedule. Radio Pakistan also broadcast very few Sindhi programs in a fear that non-Sindhis may not know the language.

Conclusion:

After break up of one unit the Sindhis have taken active role in every field of life that is the major cause of resentment by the Urdu speaking people. However, if we believe in democracy and abide by all the rules of honesty and equality, we must give equal rights proportionate to the volume of the population at all levels of government and financial institutions. If done rightly we can eliminate so many problems and the wave of breaking away from the federation will be slowed down and we could live within one country Pakistan.

If immediate steps are not taken it will not be far away that Baluchistan and Sindh will be asking for independence from the federation of Pakistan.

1996: Why the Mohajirs are suffering in Pakistan          

Immigrants generally compare their future well-being to their home countries where they have migrated from based on forecasts conditioned by information available to them. Thus, potential immigrant shop for a new country in order to achieve a better future where the political, social, cultural, and economical frames are similar to those of their home lands. However, political, religious, or economic turmoil produces immigrants who must flee at once to save their lives. Such immigrants usually go through an adjustment phase in the host country because of their weak status, both legally and politically.

However, things were different for the refugees who migrated from India to Pakistan right after its emergence on the world map. Conditions for these immigrants for their adaptation to the new land, culture, and people were highly encouraging. However, these immigrants did not try to learn about the local social, political, or economic situations and issues in Pakistan, and especially Sindhi-dominated society. However, these refugees now called Mohajirs not only declined to learn the local culture, language, and social system, but were less strongly inclined to actually socialize with local people. This created a social vacuum between the local Sindhis and refugees who, instead of transforming into the Sindhis, decided to become a political force under the umbrella of Mohajir leadership. At present these immigrants are going though a phase of reality and are facing several problems. Following are a few of these problems with solutions to save the innocent people and keep the country within one federation.

1. Identity Problems:

Since Pakistan was founded in 1947, the then called patriot Muslims suddenly became Mohajirs. They neither chose to remain as Muslims, nor became Pakistanis, and in turn lost their identity as a nation because they did not have a specific piece of land to make Mohajiristan. These are the same Mohajirs who, in the United States, call themselves patriot Pakistanis, but within their own, country refer to themselves as the Mohajirs. This was done in order to divide them socially from the local Sindhis.

After the partition, the Mohajirs were told that Pakistan was created by them and only for them. They never thought that there were other members of the family of Pakistan, in particular the Sindhis, who were the first to vote for the creation of Pakistan. The Mohajirs, at the time of the partition, were more educated than the Punjabis, Sindhis, Baluchs, and Pathans. Therefore, they took over most of the jobs. Now, other ethnic groups started producing more educated candidates, which has begun a distribution of jobs: this is unacceptable by the Mohajirs now. They believe that they are being discriminated against, which is not true. They are not getting jobs because of a re-awakening of the interior part of Pakistan, where some education has brought in a new breed of the educated class.

For example, in 1974, in the PIAC alone, 8,963 employees out of 17,343 were only from Karachi, and 353 were from the rest of the Sindh. At present, over the past 20 years, employees from the interior Sindh are at about 1,789 and the Mohajirs have been reduced to 6,829, which is still over 40% of the total work force. The rest of the positions have been acquired by the Punjabis.

This is the same scenario as in the early 70’s and 80’s when there was a vacuum of professional engineers and doctors in the United States of America. Anyone with a bachelor’s degree was working on a high-paying job. This happened because most of the young American generation was wiped out in the Vietnam War. In the nineties, local Americans were back in the market and the Asians did not find technical jobs, even if they had master’s degrees from local universities. This was not discrimination, instead, a natural phenomenon. Why should anyone hire an Asian when they already have their own child with the same qualifications?

Lots of immigrants changed their names and became Syeds overnight to get undue advantage from innocent locals who carry high regards for the decedents of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him). The Sindhis respected the Syeds by the core of their heart. For instance, my father’s Naik (Lead Servant) was travelling in a bus from Khairpur Mirs to Larkana. During his trip his bus was robbed. All the passengers were asked to give away their precious belongings and money before disembarking. Before Naik left the bus he told the robbers that he was a Syed which was not true. Upon completion of the robbery the head of the gang took a lap of goods and gave to Naik as a gift and asked him to pray for them. One can see that even criminals respected the Syeds. Immigrants used this card and took many people for a ride. Lots of immigrants produced forged certificates, affidavits and educational degrees to claim jobs, properties and lands. Today most of these immigrants claim that Pakistan was created by them and is for them. They have no consideration for the other communities like the Sindhis, Baluchs and Pakhtoons and that they are also part of the federation and have the same rights as the Mohajirs do.

In Pakistan, the same circle of event is taking its round in reverse. The Mohajirs basically ruled the country through the bureaucracy for the past 30 years and now while the Punjabis and Sindhis are holding key positions, they are not ready to accept the fact that the Mohajirs are merely 22% of the Sindh population, only 5.9% on the national level, and should only be given their due share based on their population.

2. Political Problems:

From Pakistan’s independence, the Mohajirs did not bear very seasoned politicians except Liaqat Ali Khan. The Mohajir leadership went to people like Nawab Muzafar, Usman Kennedy Nawab Yameen, Ahad Yousuf, and Altaf Hussein. On the other hand, Sindh brought up more educated leadership like Z.A. Bhutto (Barrister), Syed G.M. Syed, Mumtaz Bhutto (Barrister), Hafiz Pirzado (Barrister), etc. Most of the ministers from Sindh were educated and shrewder in politics than they were in the early sixties and seventies. A few examples are: Mohammad Khan Junejo, Ghous Ali Shah, and Abdullah Shah, who have been in power on both sides of the House and are very talented people. However, Altaf Hussein, though very shrewd, has not been able to create a national charisma and has not been successful politically. For example, he joined hands with army junta of Zia after Bhutto’s fall whereas he did not understand the politics of why G.M. Syed was helping him to train his people in his home town of Sun. G.M. Syed wanted to reawaken the Sindhis by training the MQM workers; he encouraged a clash between two. He thought that once the Sindhis were subjugated they would fight back. He wanted them to come out of that feeling of Muslim brotherhood in which they gave away their homes to the Mohajirs in post-1947 era.

My father Karamullah Memon, a native Sindhi, serving as Rehabilitation Commissioner during 1947-48, gave away his own house to a Mohajir in claim. The Sindhis welcomed the Mohajirs and the result was that most of them got settled in Sindh. In return, they destroyed small towns of Sindh by selling off iron, bricks, doors, and windows dismantling the houses left behind by the fleeing Sindhi Hindus. In only one city of Shikarpur, which used to be called the Paris of Sindh, over 15 thousand houses were destroyed and the money was transferred to Karachi to establish businesses.

Altaf Hussein did not realize that the MQM was created by the Zia regime to overcome Jamait-I-Islami, which was the most organized party in Pakistan that was capable of changing Pakistan into a fanatic so-called Islamic state. Upon advice from other intelligence sources, the MQM was brought in to counteract fundamentalism. In the process, the MQM was backed up by the army and the net result was that when the Kacha Kala Hyderabad incident occured, three truckloads of arms and immunization were recovered: with the Pakistan Army logo embossed. The entire weaponry was used for the killing the local Sindhis. One of the reasons why the army fired Benazir Bhutto as Prime Minister was the conflict over the arming of the MQM.

In Karachi, in target killings of the Sindhis approximately 500 Sindhis were killed. This was what G.M. Syed wanted. The Sindhis woke up from deep sleep and learned their lesson that they were being exploited in the name of Islam. The MQM leadership not realizing the outcome of their excessive power became a threat to the Pakistani army. At that time, the army had a wake up call and forced them to disarm the MQM and its leaders by bringing in power the rival group of the MQM and creating conditions in which the Mohajirs were killing Mohajirs, while the Sindhis and Punjabis were only watching. The MQM leadership, or, as a matter of fact, Mohajir leadership had never joined forces with the local Sindhis. It may have been because of the Punjabi conspiracy, which started in 1948. Since then, the Punjabis have planned to move everything to the Punjab from Karachi to reduce the economic power of Karachi. The Punjab has been very successful in implementing their plans. After 47 years, Karachi is completely destroyed both politically and economically while the Punjab is more prosperous than all other provinces. The Sindhis suffered by losing fertile lands to the Punjabi Generals and Colonels, but the Mohajirs were the biggest sufferers. This happened only because they did not join their forces with the locals. They always chose the side which was the other direction to the Sindhis and now they are isolated.

Though it is too late to reconcile the differences between the Sindhis and Mohajirs, still, the only solution to all the problems of Sindh is unity of the Sindhis and Mohajirs on all levels. It should be done on the basis of equal share, based on population ratio. The Mohajirs must end the conspiracy of trying to achieve a majority by bringing in Biharis from Bangladesh and must stop various political tactics to dislocate the local Sindhis. Today’s Sindhi is educated and ready to grab his or her due right. No one can say that the Sindhis are inferior to others, as it was exploited in the past that they did not want to leave their village.

The MQM leadership, in association with Nawaz Sharif, tried to dislocate the then elected Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and in return received 20000000 rupees for each National Assembly vote cast against Bhutto. Altaf Hussein now owns a big mansion in London, and the cost of his security is over a million dollars per year. One open-minded person should think about where this money came from. I am not defending the Sindhis. They have also made a lot of money. Asif Zardari is a good example of someone who exploited the resources of Pakistan. But, let us evaluate how many honest politicians Pakistan got after coming into being. Politics is the game of the rich and corrupt. All politicians are corrupt, and this is their investment to achieve power by pouring money. When they get the power, they exploit it and misuse the country’s resources. In third world countries the army and bureaucracy are the biggest corrupt institutions. However, politicians get more exploited because their finances are in the public eye. If you go and see the houses built in Islamabad by army officers, you will be amazed to see how an army general whose salary is about Rs 20,000 a month can afford a multi-million rupee mansion. Unfortunately, we do not see within our ranks; instead, we think everyone else is corrupt. But when it comes to us or our loved ones, we close our eyes. We are hypocrites and this is the reason we have no national unity.

The only political solution Sindh has is to live and to let live. The Mohajirs must accept the majority of local people and stop conspiring against them. Join together and make the province a prosperous one. Do not make Karachi a second Beirut as this is what your enemies want. The Punjabi feudal system is not your friend as they have always used you, but at other times have been mistreating you because you are a threat to them. Join forces with the Sindhis and stop killing each other.

3. Financial Problems:

Most of the Mohajirs lost their belongings after the partition. In this transition, opportunists took advantage of the rehabilitation program and filed forged claims and became rich overnight. Real rich and famous people like Nawabs, etc. were too proud to ask for anything and went into poverty. Once, I visited the home of a brother of Nawab of Juna Garh. He was living in a two-bedroom portion near Tariq road with no basic amenities. When I probed into the matter, he said he was ashamed to ask for anything from the government.

However, the financial structure of the Mohajirs was completely switched around and crooks took over the economy and exploited the resources. The Memons, Ismailis, and Khojas by nature were selfish businessmen, interested only to make more money and move the resources to foreign countries. This gave way to a financial vacuum for the Mohajirs. On the other hand, the result of the Punjabi feudal conspiracy (based on divide and rule) caused so much unrest in Karachi that in the last 15 years, no major industry has been established. On the other hand, most of the industries have been moved to the Punjab, making Karachi financially hollow. This is because of the trap set by the Punjabi feudal lords to keep the Mohajirs and Sindhis fighting, to end in destruction of our own home.

Now, when the Mohajirs are denied the jobs, they blame the PPP leadership. I think one must critically analyze the root cause of the damage that falls to both sides and one should evaluate as to who is responsible for this economic chaos and who is the benefactor of this scenario.

4. Language Problems:

After the partition, Urdu became the national language that was accepted by the Punjab, Baluchistan, and NWFP only because they did not have their own language with an alphabet. However, the Sindhis did not accept the Urdu language because Sindhi is a richer language than Urdu, and as a matter of fact, Sindhi is richer than English, which was analyzed by a German scholar Enimery Schemel, in a research paper published in the 70’s. However, Urdu was forced into Sindhis and was introduced as a compulsory subject in curriculum from high school. This was a conspiracy against the Sindhi language. On the other hand, the Mohajirs never tried to learn Sindhi, and during Bhutto’s regime when it was introduced in the lower level schools, it resulted in language riots. Sindhis felt that the Mohajirs had taken over not only their land, but their language. This became their wake up call.

The Mohajirs, again, due to the some feeling of superiority, did not learn Sindhi and became a separate group. However, all the Mohajirs who settled in the Punjab learned the Punjabi language and mingled in the local culture so that there were no Mohajirs in the Punjab. Even Mohajir women who married to Sindhi men never tried to learn Sindhi. However, they forced their language on their children too. The dark side was that if a Sindhi woman was married to a Mohajir man, she had to leave her language and so the culture, as it was a must to switch the language in any case. I appreciate the determination of the Mohajirs in promoting their language by forcing it on others, but it created hatred in Sindhis for Urdu speaking people as opposed to Urdu as a language. The proof is that most educated Sindhis read, write, and speak Urdu without hesitation, but very few Mohajirs like to speak in Sindhi even with their own family members.

Sindhi is a rich language and Sindh has produced poets like Shah Latif, Sachal Sarmast, Sheikh Ayaz, etc. who had the same caliber and charisma as Allama Iqbal or Faiz Amhed Faiz had. But, they are never recognized by our nation and in particular by the Urdu-speaking intellectuals. Until and unless mutual respect is developed, this hatred will continue. Poor people will continue to die. Democratic governments will be taken over by the army generals. The poor will get poorer and the rich will get richer. Selfish politicians will go on exploiting the innocent public and filling their pockets. Some of us preach killing in the name of God as General Zia did. If this continued in the name of God and religion, we will be punished by God as He punished the past nations that took His name but killed the innocents.

I think this is the time to wake up and reconstruct Pakistan for what it stood for, “Equality for all on the basis of Islamic values.”

Addendum 2004

After eight years the situation has not improved. The MQM is in collaboration with the Punjab army and feudals have captured democratically elected assembly of Sindh. It is amazing to note that a minority with fewer seats in the assembly is ruling the province. This in turn has created deep-rooted hatred for the Mohajirs. Due to recent remarks by Altaf Hussein, the wind is changing and latest elections will be held in 2005. If the PPP captures majority at center and can form governments in provinces without the MQM then the Mohajirs will start complaining for discrimination. However, in the past years no one said a word against non-democratic government held by the MQM. Unless and until we do not give due share of national wealth and resources to every citizen of the country, the country will remain in political turmoil with no hope of progress in the future.

March 2001:

How to Bring in Democracy in Pakistan

A Letter to Ms Benazir Bhutto, Ex. Prime Minister of Pakistan

The first and fundamental thought is that the United States of America, being the world’s greatest super power, encompasses the largest democracy in the world, and has a complete control of our government. The CIA network is spread all over the world, and with a few exceptions they are practically controlling the world. Therefore, in order to bring democracy in Pakistan, the process has to start within the United States.

The following steps ought to be taken in order to restore democracy, especially if the Peoples’ Party wants to come back in power after the army’s failure, which seems very evident from their initial few months in power. Until this regime convinces the United States government in the same manner General Zia UL Haque did, by helping the United States to bring the Russian empire to a downfall, the efforts to re-establish democracy in Pakistan will continue to be strenuous.

The Peoples’ Party should strengthen its roots in Pakistan. So far, the common status of the Peoples’ Party is that it is not very democratic in its decisions, and is full of leaders who are arrogant and corrupt. Most of the honest politicians who were with the late Z.A. Bhutto have left the party. The first step must be to change the tone in your dealings: be friendlier and bring all the old timers on the table. Though old in age now, they are more precious than gold. Give full consideration to their advice, and their next generation in the party will revitalize it.

Generate a plan on how you will solve the problems of the common man, such as corruption, brutality and misuse of police power, feudalism, price hike, joblessness, illiteracy, industrialization, power-shortage, communications, and the biggest culprit reduction of the white elephant The Army. At present the army has become an inevitable partner in the political system therefore, we have to compromise with the army leaders and work our way to draft a plan and act upon it as long as it upgrades the standards of the common man. Unless the middle class is not in the majority, there will be no democracy stable enough to rule more than a few years.

Set up a committee of three to five people each in all major cities of the United States of America and Europe. Let this be called a People’s Party Political Action Committee. This committee would recommend to the party as which political candidates to be supported in the United States congress, senate, and local political arena. It would be necessary to finance such committee whose job would be to campaign and lobby to bring a democratic government in Pakistan. The key thought is to provide funds, as it will need a minimum of $100,000 budget at each location. Let this committee get its roots in United States politics which, in the long run, would bring stability to the Pakistani government. Some suggested cities are Washington D.C., New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, San Francisco, Orlando, Atlanta, Seattle, Denver, St. Louis, Dallas, Miami, Phoenix, London, Paris, etc….

Appreciate hard working party workers and people who support you. Send them personalized notes, autographed pictures and appreciate their work. Be available to them and be friendlier to them. When I met Mrs. Hillary Clinton I realized she could be a role model for politicians. The entire time I was with her, she acted as though she was my best friend. Mr. Clinton displays many of the same qualities. He is so charismatic that you feel that he is your best friend. Recently, when I met you, I found similar charisma in you but if you use those to your advantage. The key is to be close to people and be accessible; this will change your perception and make you famous.

How to Prevent Pakistan from Further Destruction

Letter to Mrs. Benazir Bhutto Ex. Prime Minister of Pakistan

Dear Mrs. Bhutto:

I have been a critical observer of the Pakistani politics for twenty-two years, in particular, of your family’s role in the politics of Pakistan.

Your father, the late Z.A. Bhutto, started his political life from our home. Your late grandfather brought your father to my uncle, Abdul Fateh Memon, to teach him the local politics. At the time, my uncle was the General Secretary of the Muslim League. Subsequently, he became the greatest leader Pakistan has ever seen so far because of his hard work, intelligence, and dedication to the cause of people.

            I have been a silent observer of your family’s role in politics and hope that you can be successful in your political career. In the next few pages, there are a few suggestions, which could be useful for the fulfillment of the promise your father made to the people of Pakistan, which he could not achieve because of too many negative forces against him. This time you have an opportunity, which can either place you topmost in history or fade you out from politics of Pakistan altogether.

            I am writing this letter for the sake of the people of my country. I have no political or economic ambition associated with you or the opposition party. I have friends in both parties as well as in the bureaucracy. Furthermore, these are merely my personal thoughts, and no one has inspired me to write this letter to you. I hope this letter will reach you and that you may benefit from the same.

            The Peoples’ Party is the party of the masses who are mostly uneducated. Most of the educated class is against your party. Your biggest problem is to do something for them to keep them quiet. This has to be done in such a way that your promise to the people who voted for you is also not jeopardized.

            Efforts have to be made to divert the attention of people from large metropolitan areas to reduce the economic and social pressures. If you analyze the situation in the United States of America, all the lower middle class people have been provided with basic amenities and entertainment. The same efforts should be made to do the following:

Ø      Encourage recreational activities. Government sponsored tournaments should be arranged by district officials.

Ø      A movie channel should be launched on TV or an existing channel should telecast movies and shows from various countries around the clock. This will keep people interested in other things rather than street violence and street politics.

Ø      Mobile movie theaters that go village to village and provide entertainment to villagers while conveying government messages to them should be established. This system was very beneficial during Ayub Khan’s regime when he used the district administration to propagate his message to the people while providing entertainment at the same time.

Ø      Open kuchahry --actually originated by Captain Usman Ali Issani during his tenure as Deputy Commissioner Khairpur in the early 60’s and utilized by your father very effectively in the early part of his tenure-- should be organized again. All the Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, and all top-level officers should head it at least once a month. You should also take time to meet common people. In your last tenure you were distant from the people. This was one of the reasons you were removed without any hitch by the then political masters. You are lucky that a change in the American Government and a rift between Nawaz Sharif and Ishaq Khan made way for you to come back in power. However, this may be the last chance you have to get close to the people.

Ø      Corruption in bureaucracy is at the highest extent. In my view there is no way to control the corruption in the bureaucracy except by finding ways to reduce it, particularly in the areas where the common man has to let go of bribe to live clean. Find out some ways to provide telephone connection, electric connection, and health care, building permits, factory and industrial permits, admissions to professional schools, driver’s licenses, passports, ID cards, and many basic amenities without red tape. One way to do so is to create alternatives to existing agencies in which the private sector would provide such services. You must have seen an improvement in air service after an alternate airline was allowed. This will ease unemployment problems as well as dependency on the government would lesson.

Ø      Efforts should be made to delegate powers to the lower levels for people to get quick decisions. Presently appointment of a peon to the secretary is done by the chief minister. We must change people’s minds to small business and encourage entrepreneurs by some reward system to strengthen private sector. Right now every graduate wants to be a clerk. Efforts should be made to change this attitude and divert the manpower to the technical fields, business, and service industry. Non productive expenditure on the bureaucracy and the army should be reduced, and public spending on education, cultural and social programs should be increased. Ask the people who possess billions of rupees in hiding to bring the money out and invest in industry and the private sector. You should give them cover to protect their investment, even if it has come from black money. In this way, black money may provide jobs for the poor and develop the country.

Ø      On the political side you must bring all the experienced politicians close to you. One of the reasons of your father’s political downfall was removal of dedicated and experienced politicians from the party and bringing in opportunists close to him. The political scene in Pakistan has not changed in the last thirty years. You have three kinds of people in politics.

Ø      Ones are Feudals, Landlords, Zamindars, and Chowdhrys who want to be in power to keep their heritage and have no interest in the country, its people or you. They are only interested in their safe net. Wherever they see their safety, they run to that lurking hole.

Ø      Second are those opportunists who want to make money by politics. As long as they make money they are on your side.

Ø      Third are the politicians that are few in numbers yet want to do something for the people while they are in office. Find such people and bring them in your government.

To control the country you need to have a balance of all these types of politicians for your own safety. You must try to bring people like Khar, Mumtaz Bhutto, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Hafiz Pirzada, Allana, Miraj Mohammad Khan, and several others past PPP well-wishers back and continue the efforts to do something for the people. Arrogance is the killer of the politician. One of the reasons of your father’s failure in the end was non-compromise and arrogance shown to the senior politicians. You should take advantage of his mistakes and visit such people and try to clear old enmities. I still remember that one time in the early part of your father’s coming into power; an effort was being made to clear differences between him and Pir Pagaro through Syed Ghous Ali Shah. But due to the selfishness of a few of his close associates, that effort was ruined because it was not in their interest to bring Pir Pagaro close to Mr. Bhutto. I know it will be very hard to reconcile the differences with him now, but I would keep an open dialogue with him and his close associates. The same should be observed with Nawaz Sharif and other prominent opposition leaders. You must invite them for political sittings and suggest them to do something for the people together. Break the old feudalistic trend of politics, and try the modernized ways to bring people at the same table. This way they will let you rule for your tenure and let the people decide for you or for them in the next elections. Do not impose your leadership. Let the people and the assemblies bring you as the leader. I know you were advised by several people not to accept leadership while Ishaq was President because you were not elected but selected to do a certain job. You are lucky that you got another political life, so use it wisely. Bring people together like you did with Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi. I am positive that if you go and visit these people, they will stop negative campaigning against you and the PPP.

            I am sending you a copy of an article written by Nicolas Platt who was the U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan in 1991. I agree with his idea that now is the time to change the politics of revenge, and make the national assembly into a working legislature, make friends, and avoid confrontation.

            Recent shifts in the American Policy are good signs for your party. You must create political forums that could propagate your message to the right quarters. You are aware about efforts done by the Sindhi Association of North America on human rights violations. We used modern ways of approaching the local congressmen and senators on a very small scale and this brought back very positive results. On the same grounds, you must form small political forums on district, division, provincial, national, and international levels. They should hold meetings with people of interest and create positive response for your party. Right now PPP is labeled as a party of opportunists who want to make money by right or wrong ways. You must change this image of your party.

            News media is completely against your party. Efforts should be made to reduce negative propaganda against PPP. I recall during your father’s era these people used to write “Larkana has become the second Paris of Pakistan. All the money has gone to Larkana.” You and I know that, except for a few development projects, nothing constructive had been done there. But people outside Sindh always had a feeling that all the money was being spent in Larkana. Educated Mohajirs by nature are complainers and it is very hard to satisfy their appetite for money and power. However, with the right propaganda, you could bring the truth to the common man. But, this can only be done if your party members show an honest effort to rule the country.

January 1998:Human Rights Violations and Dictatorship in Pakistan    

Dear Mr. President:

            I am sorry that I missed an opportunity to see you in person during your visit to Houston for a fundraiser for Congresswoman Ms. Sheila Jackson Lee. I was unable to attend due to a severe flu virus. I intended to submit this memorandum to you; however, instead, I am sending it to you by mail with a hope in shifting U.S. policy towards Pakistan.

Strategic Importance of Pakistan:

            Fundamentalist governments in Iran and Afghanistan, along with India’s powerful help of China and Russia, have left Pakistan’s only ally as the United States, who potentially may be able to keep the balance of power in the region.

            The United States of America can keep the Balance by supporting the democratic process in Pakistan and use its resources to keep check and balance. Presently, Premier Nawaz’s government is completely busy in crushing the opposition political leaders in order to create a totalitarian rule in the country. All major positions have been assigned to their home town friends, leaving the rest of the country that consists of three minority provinces with no representation in the political process. This will eventually create a situation similar to Bangladesh and break Pakistan into several tiny countries for which political movement in Sindh, Baluchistan, and Pakhtoonistan are already fully ripened. This totalitarian rule will make this process very easy. This in turn would leave the United States without an ally in the region.

Action Required to Safeguard USA Interests:

            Premier Nawaz’s government shall be asked to stop all human rights violations by withdrawing all politically motivated cases against each political party. The time and resources shall be used to upgrade peoples’ standards of living, rather than crushing political rivals. In turn, when those rivals come back in power, they also spend their time to crush other parties, causing a total loss of resources and hindering development for the poor masses.

            Negotiations shall be expedited to have a NO WAR PACT between Pakistan and India, to stop the arms race in the region. Pakistan and India shall be asked to reduce the size of their armies and furthermore spend at least 50% of their budget on non-military expenses. The Kashmir issue should be resolved with a free UNO controlled election in which the Kashmiris shall decide what is to be done about their country as opposed to the Pakistani and Indian politicians deciding for them.

            This process would also upgrade the education level in these countries, which would therefore produce better political leaders, technocrats, and educators. Presently the so called “democratic” process is controlled either by the army, bureaucrats, selfish landlords, or career politicians. All elections, except for one in 1971, have been rigged by the local and army authorities. Moreover, the so-called mandate of “absolute majority” in the Parliament is a result of massive fraud without a truly democratic and fair election.

            IMF funds and other grants are mostly used either by the government officials or are given as bribes to the friendly politicians. Less than 5% of the budget and loans are used for the common man. For this reason, a negative feeling persists between the people of Pakistan and the U.S.A. though the elite of Pakistan have always collated for US interests. Unless the aid granted to these countries reaches to the common man, we will have no sympathy in their hearts.

            Premier Nawaz’s government shall be asked to give a fair share, in all respects, to the smaller provinces and stop various conspiracies that give way to political instability in those provinces. This should include all political, bureaucratic, army, and other appointments. At present, Premier Nawaz’s hometown and home province associates and friends hold all 40 of the top positions.

            If few of these ideas are implemented, it will save Pakistan from further breaking into smaller pieces that would not be in the long-run political interest of the United States of America.

With regards,

Manzoor A. Memon

Conclusion: President Bill Clinton’s personal response is given below,

Sindh Today

A letter written by my cousin late Ali Raza Memon, son of Abdul Fatah Memon, former Ambassador of Pakistan to Saudi Arabia.

Mohtram:

Asslamu-alaikum wa Rahmatu-Allah wa Barkatahu,

As a concerned Sindhi, I would like to draw your attention to a major problem of Sindh and the Sindhis. You are in a position to help directly and indirectly (through your children), to help find a solution for this predicament.

We are pained and bewildered to see a complete absence of Sindhi entrepreneurs, industrialists, businessmen, traders, bankers, financiers, as well as other technical and non-technical labor hands, in the economic and financial stage of Sindh and Pakistan. We are fully aware of the conspiracies in the past and present, to keep the Sindhis out of the mainstream of national economic life. However, we also know that there have been certain reluctance of our educated and upper class to participate directly in financial and industrial life in Sindh. Sir, time has come for the Sindhis to play an active and rightful role in day to day business, industry, and trade of Sindh. Sindh needs indigenous Sindhis to enter business, trade, industry, and finance. Sindh cannot prosper unless the real sons of soil become industrialists, bankers, investors, traders, managers, technical and non-technical hands, and equally important owners and exploiters of the God given natural and other resources.

In the past, the Sindhis, who by chance got permits to put up industries or other businesses, sold them for pennies to the non-Sindhis, who are now millionaires, and who refuse even ordinary jobs to the Sindhis. Some Sindhis got loans, which were spent away on unproductive schemes and activities. Sir, if the Sindhis do not wake up now, their children will be in worse conditions than those of the Red Indians of Canada and the United States of America, (who were once the owners of the United States and are now beggars and strangers on the same land.)

Sir, God has provided us one more chance to do something really constructive and productive for our people and land. The Sindhis who are in power must play constructive roles in the national reconstruction of Sindh. Let them set up new industries in Larkana, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Dadu, Nawabshah, etc…. Let them get permits for their friends, relatives, and acquaintances to put up factories (small, medium, and large), industries to initiate new businesses, trading houses, shops all over Sindh. Karachi should be rehabilitated by indigenous Sindhi businessmen, industrialists, traders, bankers, and experts in finance and related technologies. Let our leaders and politicians arrange loans from public and private institutions for the Sindhis qualified to set up business and financial projects in the nook and corner of Sindh. The Sindhis are blessed with brains, physique, knowledge, resources and education to play a fair and active part in the national and international development. This is the best time to take the initiative for an overall economic plan and reconstruction of Sindh: to prepare and allow the Sindhis to participate fully in economic, financial, and industrial life of Sindh.

We Sindhis have to work very hard, and fast to compensate for our past deprivations. Right now we are in a very bad and sad situation, all of our major cities and towns are out of our economic and political control. Even small towns are getting out of our control. Let us take control of our economic destiny in our hands now!

Every one of us sitting abroad will be happy to fully participate and cooperate directly as well as indirectly in reconstruction of the Sindh economy. I am offering my unconditional support, help, and assistance to Sindh and the Sindhis in their endeavor to take their rightful, God-given right to own, use, and exploit their resources to the benefit of all people in Sindh and Pakistan.

“Let us get our middle class to enter trade, business, management, and related services…private as well as public sectors.”

“Let us get our upper class to invest in setting up industries, factories, banks, insurance companies, trading companies, foreign agencies etc….”

“Let us get our skilled and unskilled labor to find work in our industries, trade and related agencies.”

“Let us demand our due share in national wealth, revenue and resources.”

“Let us speak out, as well as act for securing our God given rights as citizens of Sindh and Pakistan.”

Above all let us encourage our fellow brethren Sindhis to go into ownership, management and work in the economic sector of Sindh and Pakistan. We need economic prosperity and control over Sindh’s destiny to be real and true free citizens.

Please think about it; let me know your reaction. We have enough pool of talent, wealth and resources to be our own economic and financial bosses. This should be in effect immediately.

God bless you and all the Sindhis.

Ali Raza Memon

December 8, 1998

Letter to Mr. Abdullah Shah

Chief Minister Sindh

Dear Shah Sahib:

Assalam-o-Alakium

I hope this letter finds you and your family in the best of health. It has been about five years since we met in Washington D.C. where I made a comment to you about the change of Chief Minister in Sindh and I told you that you would be a better Chief Minister. I think after what you have done in a few years as CM I was 100% right. I congratulate you on your hard work and efforts to cope with the situation in Sindh in what you also lost your dear brother. I am sorry about his untimely death. Please accept my deepest condolences.

During my meeting with one of very recent ex-CM (not from the PPP), I asked him to evaluate your performance and I was told that after Mumtaz Bhutto you were the best CM the PPP brought in. Hearing from an opposition party leader I really compliment you on your performance and all of us here are really proud of you.

The reason why I am writing you this letter is to bring to your attention the propaganda initiated by the PPP opponents all over the world through the media. In my letter to Mrs. Benazir Bhutto, a few years ago, I insisted on fostering some media lobby in various important countries like the United States of America, the UK, Canada, France, Japan, etc…; I also suggested the launce of a news letter which should be printed in Pakistan (due to economical reasons) sent to various countries to be distributed to all the Pakistani community within each country. Also news through the internet will be a beneficial tool to pass the information. Interviews from various PPP politicians while visiting any foreign country on radio, TV, and newspapers have proved to be a very beneficial tool. Unfortunately, the non-Sindhi community is unaware about the injustice done to us and they think we are the aggressors whereas we have been the victims since the partition.    

I will be in Karachi from May 3^rd to May 18^th 1996. If you would like to discuss this proposal in detail as how to set up a propaganda tool, please instruct your private secretary to allot some time between the above dates. I will be in touch with your private secretary.

Thank you and I will see you soon.

Muslims and Mainstream Politics:

(A Speech at APPNA Convention)

Brothers and sisters, Assalam-o-alakum. On behalf of Mayor Lee P. Brown and the city of Houston, I welcome you all. I thank the organizers of APNA for this opportunity to address you all. The issue I would like to discuss is the Muslims and mainstream politics.

After 9/11 two years ago the demographics of the United States have completely changed. The Muslims have been brought under the spotlight. On one side we have our integrity and pledge of allegiance adhering to the oath to be the citizens of the United States. On the other side, we have teachings of Islam and our brothers and sisters who are living in the Muslim countries like Kashmir, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, where they are suffering. We have to see how to balance our local and Islamic commitments. This is a hard task but can be done if we all work together as a team and do not get divided on petty things. One important aspect is to follow Islam in its true essence. Yes, we have five pillars of Islam; following those makes us officially a Muslim. But the practice of those along with the true human values and standards of honest life makes us a complete Muslim; that is, we not only have to practice Deen but also play a role in Dunyia. You should see that a few Muslims’ acts of cruelty result in all Muslims’ suffering the aftermath. So what we should do is come out as winners. Including our Islamic duties, we need to get involved in our community and political affairs from the roots. From school boards, city, county, state and federal levels, we need to get involved in the political process and slowly send this message to our next door Americans that we are as patriotic as they are and Islam is the religion of peace not terrorism as it is being wrongly portrayed. We have to be honest, punctual, and fair in our dealings and give messages of friendship and peace to local people and be a part of the system. A few things we should do are:

First, register to vote, and urge friends and relatives to register and vote. This will strengthen your community in the eyes of the politicians and lawmakers as your block vote can make a big difference. You must become member of your civic, religious community and business organizations. We have about two million Muslim votes all around the country which can cause someone to win or lose any election.

Second, join the political party of your choice; examine their manifesto and their track record and decide which party will serve our needs. Then go and vote in primary elections and try to get elected as party delegates, or party prescient chairs. This way you will be inside the political party and can divert the party manifesto and policy towards your community cause.

Third, once you are in the political body, pick candidates of your choice and support them by volunteering your time to their campaigns. Raise funds for them, put their signs on your businesses and show that you are a part of the system. We are very slow in letting our money go; we need to be generous in donating not only to our own institutions like mosques, Islamic schools, but also to the American charities, political action committees and candidates who can support your community cause.

Fourth, we need to encourage our youth to participate in the political process by asking them to spend their summer doing internships for the city, county, state, and federal offices. My suggestion to people is, if you want to live in this country you need to be a part of this society, as people say: “Do in Rome as the Romans do.”

Lastly, I urge the doctors’ community to donate their time to the American charities and make a political force for their communities by inviting political candidates and opening their door for their political activities like fund raising etc… I think you can play a vital role in bringing our communities at par with other communities by paying some attention on this subject.

If any youngster is interested to work as volunteer or intern in any political office, contact me, I can try to get them in.

I hope God will give us strength to follow a straight path, where we are successful not only on the religious front but on a worldly front too.

Thank you, and may Allah bless you all.

December 20, 1999:

Letter to President General Pervaiz Musharaf

SUBJECT: DR. ISHRAT HUSSEIN, GOVERNOR STATE BANK

Dear Mr. Musharaf:

Since your take over as CEO of Pakistan, you have been preaching for equal rights for the provinces, but your actions are contrary to your statements. Major positions on federal and provincial levels are held by either the Urdu speaking or Punjabi speaking officers. Locals from Sindh, Baluchistan and frontier provinces are being sidelined. Your policy to adopt merit system for appointments is not a bad policy but if you live in an equal opportunity state like the United States of America, you will notice that here every rich or poor person has the same facilities to go to school and grow in the equal society. You should not forget, in the past 50 years the step brother attitude towards the Sindh, Baluchistan and frontier has not groomed the people of these underprivileged areas to compete with people from large metropolitan areas. Therefore, it is imperative to keep the merit policy within rural and urban areas so that the best could be picked up from all over the nation to ease tension within the provinces.

Appointment of Dr. Ishrat Hussein is a major concern that the foundation of his career is based on a fraud: he obtained a fake rural area domicile certificate to compete in CSS examination on a Sindh rural seat. The reason I am confident about this is because it was my father, late Karamullah Memon PCS (one of the most honest officers the Sindh bureaucracy has ever seen), who by mistake issued a false domicile certificate to Mr. Ishrat Hussein CSP. My father noticed the mistake after Mr. Ishrat qualified for CSS and became SDM in our home town Shikarpur in 1966. My father regretted this mistake when Mr. Ishrat became his boss by superseding him in provincial position.

The reason his domicile is important is that a lot of Urdu speaking people have exploited the rural urban domicile policy in the past and deprived the due share of the less fortunate people and Mr. Ishrat is a good example of this cult.

I, as a political observer, must urge the policy makers to make sure that policies of equality and fairness must be restored; otherwise further partition of Pakistan is already on the CIA’s drawing board. These actions will give smaller provinces an excuse to part from the federation. So please pay attention to this policy.

Also after reading your speech on economic affairs, my only comment is to ask you to reduce the government expenses and in particularly the white elephant: the army, which has made our country completely hollow. It is time to settle our differences with India and divert our economy to industrialization rather than warmongering.

Accepting resignation of Dr. Yaqub was a good move. In principle he was a part of policy making of Nawaz Sharif and he should be held responsible for the economic collapse of the country. I disagree with his policies, though he is related to me: national interest should be kept at the top of the agenda.

Lastly, I can see your actions slowing down to eliminate the evils out of the society. You need to make quick decisions as you will be weakened as time passes. Do something for the poor people who see you as their final hope.

With regards,

Manzoor A. Memon

September 24, 1989:Speech at Palestine Muslim Group

Thanks for granting me the opportunity to speak.

My name is Manzoor Memon. By profession, I am an electrical engineer, advisor to Mayor, businessmen, election judge, Democratic Party chair, trustee Pakistan association, and president of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce.

My role today is to bring forth some reflections as how to be effective in this society. I will touch the following four subjects:

1.      Global economy

2.      Economy controls politics

3.      Politics controls policies

4.      Policies control our lives

Bring efforts to have control over business. The Jewish people are a role model. How can a handful of people control policies of the strongest country in the world and undermine multi billion community of Muslims? By controlling financial markets. We can control politics and polities.

How can we do the same? People who are in business need to come from behind the closet of collecting dollars; it is time to give back to the communities. Participate in political system. Every major town should have a group of businessmen mobilizing their funds and giving it to local, state and national leaders during election time. Do not do it individually but give as a community and start asking for something in return rather than just a photograph which you proudly hang in your living room to show to people. Make the politician change some policies for our motherland and us. We love our homeland USA but we owe something to our motherland.

The people who are not rich but educated and can participate in the election process should get attached with political candidates and parties, be their members, and get into staff of the politicians. Staff of politicians writes 95% of laws and regulations, they control the language of those legislatures that control our lives.

Then comes the most important factor that we all have ignored: to exercise our valuable vote. Statistics shows that our community voting has been less than 5% of registered votes. Estimate is that we have at least 3 million registered Muslim votes, so we need to vote in block and get attention of the politicians. Please register and exercise your votes if you want to survive in this country.

Again controlling the business is the key factor. This has proven in the past to be the most effective way to take your communities on the higher level. Support political candidates financially; work with them, and go to vote. You will be ahead of other in the game.

Thank you again.

2002.Interview with Manzoor Memon             

Manzoor Memon’s nick name is Manny Memon. He was born in Shikarpur Sindh. His family shifted to Larkana in 1947. His father late Haji Karamullah Memon was Deputy Commissioner and Secretary Revenue to the Sindh Government. His Uncle Abdul Fateh Memon was a General Secretary Sindh Muslim League in 1948 under late Ayub Khoro’s presidency. He served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1963 to 1969. His other uncle Nizamuddin Memon was a close advisor to late Z.A. Bhutto, also being a member of the Pakistani delegation to UNO.

Manzoor Memon acquired his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in 1973, with third position within entire University. He worked for the Karachi Shipyard and PIA until 1980 when he migrated to the United States of America. Here he worked for major US companies like Bechtel Power Corp, Mississippi Power and Lighting Company, Flour Daniel, Ebasco Construction, and Stone and Webster Company.

In 1987, he quit engineering and pursued several business ventures and has been very successful. Since then, he has been CEO of several companies including Mars Carpets and Tapestries, Universal Postal and Travel Center, Amber Travel, ATI Travel Club, Pasadena’s One Hour Photo, Prime Time Video, Deer park Dairy Queen, Pasadena Baskin Robbins, M & M Food Mart, Chevron Gas Station, and A.K. Construction Co. etc.

Manzoor Memon is actively involved in local community and political affairs. He serves as member of Mayor Lee P. Brown’s Advisory Board for Asian Affairs. He has also served as member of Mayor’s transition team, Finance and Political committee. He was nominated by the Mayor to serve as trustee for Baylor College of Medicine. He has also served as a member of President Bush’s exploratory committee, and Senator Hillary Clinton’s financial supporter. He serves as a member of the Pakistan Center Trust in Pakistan Association of Greater Houston. By affiliation he is a strong Democrat and believes in human rights and prosperity of poor people of the United States and other world nations.

Here are a few of his thoughts on various issues.

Q:        You have been involved in so many businesses, why do you change so much?

A:         This is my weakness that after establishing a new business and bringing it to its peak, I want to do something else; as there is no challenge left in doing the repeated thing. Pursuing new ventures gives me an opportunity to learn different things. This way I keep myself interested in life. Financially, I may not make so much as others who concentrate on one kind of business, but it gives me pride to know a little about everything.

Q:        Why did you come to the United States of America?

A:         I used to work in PIA; my appointment was political so as soon as the army toppled up late Z.A. Bhutto’s government, we were on the target list. This was the main reason I had to leave the country.

Q:        Do you want to go back to Pakistan?

A:         I do not think so. I have worked very hard for the last 21 years and it’s time to retire and let the new generation take over. I do not see any reason to go back. However, if given a position to promote education in the rural areas, I will donate my time for a few years to help my people.

Q:        Tell us something about how the 9/11 incident affected you.

A:         I do not see any effect on me, my family or business. However, there are a lot of friends who have lost jobs and the situation is not very sound economically for so many of our people. We used to be freer in our actions and speech before. Now we have to be more careful and discreet. We are lucky that we are in Houston, where because of our community’s strong support to the Mayor and interaction with the law enforcement agencies, we have been treated very well.

Q:        What do you think about the local political atmosphere? Where do you believe our community is headed?

A:         Since the last few years, things have been a lot better. Our people have started getting involved in mainstream politics. We have Pakistani Muslims involved in Republican as well as Democratic parties at various levels. Compared to the Jews, we are at a starting level in mainstream politics. However, it is a good start and I urge people to register to vote and exercise their right to vote. As more people vote, it will strengthen our community and will carry us into mainstream politics. The only advice I want to give to our political activists is to knit our strings to make a strong rope. Presently, everyone is working on their own, in small groups to get personal agenda fulfilled; and it has been very hard to bring all activists on one platform. Until we keep our disagreements aside and work as a strong Pakistani group, we will not be successful as a community.

Q:        What should our community be doing to handle the current situation?

A:         Most of our people have come here for financial reasons; however, we need to get involved in mainstream American politics on all levels. I have seen a tremendous change in political scenario by our people’s involvement in the past four years. Thanks to Mayor Lee P. Brown, who opened his doors for our community to participate in the local government. The last election remarkably showed this from all Muslims. It was the first time politicians considered it important to come to our mosques and solicit our support. We need to unite and support the right candidates who could give us access and protection. In my view, the Muslims from the other cities must learn lesson from Houston, which is considered the most desirable city for minorities. This is mainly because of our interaction with local politicians. As a community, we must participate in the system and give a message to the leaders that we are as patriotic as the rest of the Americans.

Q:        What do you think about institutions like PAGH and ISGH?

A:         This is a very difficult question to answer as I do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings.