Recently, there is lot of speculation in Pakistan about emergence of a third political force centered on cricketer turned politician Imran Khan and his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). A number of politicians from southwestern Punjab recently joined PTI. Southwestern Punjab is taking a lead in this phenomenon which makes it an interesting study to understand politics of that region. This is not the first time and surely it will not be the last time that we are witnessing frequent change of political affiliation. Personal and clan interests, factional rivalries, strong emphasis on biradari (kinsmanship) and local influence are essential elements of politics of southwestern Punjab. Pre-partition Punjab under the Raj was main area of military recruitment as well as agriculture. Large urban centers were few and majority of the population resided in rural areas. All three main communities of Hindus (especially Jats and Dogras), Muslims and Sikhs tilled the land as well as supplied military recruits. Eastern Punjab was more fertile with majority of Hindu and Sikh population while western Punjab had majority of Muslim population and land was less fertile. Construction of canal colonies in the end of nineteenth and early twentieth century changed the landscape. Northwestern Punjab consisting of districts of Rawalpindi, Jhelum and Attock were less fertile and service in the army was major source of income for the region. Southwestern part consisting of Jhang, Montgomery (now named Sahiwal), Lyallpur (now named Faisalabad), Multan, Muzzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan (these six districts constituted Multan division during the Raj) became prosperous with canal colonies although it also provided recruits to the army. This analysis is limited to this area of Multan division.
Origins
Southwestern Punjab was a barren land with no significant major population centers. Few small cities and towns surrounded by small agriculture areas supporting subsistence agriculture were the dominant the feature of the landscape. Sparse population outside the small cities and towns consisted of nomads, petty thieves and robbers. Annexation of Punjab in 1849 brought this area under direct British control. British administrators paid tribal and clan leaders directly to keep peace in their area of influence and provided economic incentives by opening recruitment in army, border police and police. Construction of canals changed region’s landscape dramatically in a very short period of time. Agriculture transformed the region from extreme poverty to prosperity. Landed aristocracy as well as hereditary Pirs (custodians of shrines) were welded to Imperial state’s machinery resulting in rural stability. A mutually beneficial relationship between state and local power holders was achieved where state patronized local leadership with land grants, light revenue assessments, preferential legislations favoring agriculturists and limited share in power. In return, local elite provided military recruits for the army and ensured rural stability. This stability was crucial during the times of stress such as World Wars, economic depression and rise of nationalist politics.
Local elite kept their end of the bargain by keeping their clans loyal while state ensured preferential treatment in the form of material as well as social benefits. This arrangement continued right up to the end of the Raj and emergence of Pakistan as independent state in 1947. Influential families of the region saw rapid expansion of their fortunes from 1870s to 1900. After First World War, when political reforms were introduced in India, it was quite natural that these local power holders were favored to get preferential treatment in the new system. This was essential to insulate Punjab; the sword arm of the Raj from the nationalist politics.
It was in this background that Punjab Unionist Party representing interests of agriculturists; both large landholders as well as tenant proprietors of small landholding emerged as a dominant political force in Punjab. When two main nationalist political parties; Congress and Muslim League were emerging as representatives of Hindu and Muslim communities respectively, Unionist Party maintained cross communal hold right up to the eve of partition. Agriculturalists belonging to all three communities of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs cooperated with each other in Punjab while their respective religious communities were gradually drifting apart. Unionist Party was ultimately swept away only in 1946, when it could not withstand nationalist storm enraging all over India, widening gulf between Muslims and non-Muslims and impending partition of sub-continent.
After independence, similar arrangements continued between local elite and Raj’s successor state. One interesting case essentially summarizes politics practiced in the southwestern Punjab in the last two decades. Malik Khuda Bakhsh Tiwana was aligned with Nawaz Sharif in 1985 and after elections was appointed provincial minister. Later, he also served as minister in Sharif’s interim set up. In 1988 elections all parties opposed to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) were put under the umbrella of Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) by the military. Khuda Bakhsh wanted a national assembly ticket but IJI gave him only provincial assembly ticket. Furious Khuda Bakhsh resigned from the interim government, returned IJI’s provincial assembly ticket and announced that he will contest both national and provincial assembly seats as an independent candidate. He won both seats, kept his national assembly seat and in subsequent by election got his brother Ghulam Ahmad elected on the provincial assembly seat that he had vacated. This was a Tiwana’s revenge reminiscence of his fore fathers. In 1990, IJI learning the bitter lesson gave him the ticket for both national and provincial assembly seats and he won both. This time he repeated the previous sequence but in reverse order. He kept his provincial assembly seat and was appointed provincial minister while on the national assembly seat he got his brother Ghulam Ahmad elected in by election. In 1993, both brothers contested election on Pakistan Muslim League-Junejo (PML-J) ticket and both lost to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Sharif (PML-N) candidates. This is the microcosm of the electoral politics of the region.
Present Through the Prism of Past
Present is never very far away from the past. There are many similarities between the era of 1945-47 and current times. Southwestern Punjab politicians were strong supporters of Unionist political platform that advocated inter-communal cooperation to safeguard interests of Punjab’s agriculturalists against rising tide of urban based politics of Congress and Muslim League. Earlier defections from Unionist Party to Muslim League were the result of factional fights and later when the writing of partition became clear on the wall and Muslim League’s central role in future power politics became crystal clear, there was a stampede to join Muslim League.
Comparison of elections results of 1937 and 1946 gives a clear picture of how the change occurred. In 1937, Unionists won 98 of 175 seats (this included 72 of the 75 rural Muslim seats). Muslim League won only two seats; Barkat Ali (Urban) and Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan (he didn’t win due to popularity or program of Muslim League but due to support of his powerful uncle Pir Fazal Shah; the spiritual head of the shrine of Jalalpur). After election, Ghazanfar defected to Unionists and awarded with the post of parliamentary secretary thus leaving Muslim League with a lone member (in late 1946, he defected back to Muslim League).
Everyone knows that the tables were turned in 1946 and Muslim League won majority of Muslim seats (73 seats out of 175). However not too many people have tried to find out how the tables were turned. In late 1945, twenty Unionist members defected to Muslim League (including Shaukat Hayat, Feroz Khan Noon, Mumtaz Khan Tiwana and Syed Amjad Ali). When the campaign for 1946 elections started, forty additional Unionists defected to Muslim League. Several influential Pirs also threw their lot with Muslim League including Pirs of Jalalpur, Golra and Sial Sharif. Two Unionist ministers; Sir Jamal Khan Laghari and Nawab Ashiq Hussain were elected on Unionist tickets but defected to Muslim League after election thus increasing Muslim League strength from 73 to 75. This was déjà vu of 1937 but in reverse order. In reality, over sixty Unionists had simply switched their loyalties to Muslim League to change the balance of power. This was the real deal but the icing on the cake was when Congress Punjab President Mian Iftikharuddin; scion of wealthy Mians of Baghbanpura joined Muslim League in 1946. Off course, by 1946 general Muslim public opinion had swung in favor of Muslim League and this could not be ignored by any politician.
Immediately after independence, Iftikhar Hussain Mamdot became Chief Minister of Punjab but ambitious Mumtaz Daultana was vying to unseat him from day one. Resulting bickering in Punjab Muslim League disgusted ailing Jinnah and he gave up all hope and stopped mediating. Mamdot and Daultana presented their cases in January 1948 to Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan. Mamdot showed him signatures of 44 members pledging support while Daultana presented the signatures of 42 out of total 81 members. Liaqat noticed that seven members had signed on both lists. In 1990 Ghulam Haider Wayen of PML-N became Chief Minister of Punjab. Three years later when President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dismissed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab assembly members adjusted their sails accordingly. Intrigues of byzantine proportions resulted in passage of no confidence motion against Wayen under the leadership of Manzoor Watto. When the dust settled Wayen was left with only 20 members while Watto was laughing all the way to the Chief Minister’s chair. In 2011, influential members of various power groups in Multan belonging to different political parties joined PTI. Each one joined PTI for his own reasons but if history is a guide it is not for any noble political philosophy or ideology.
Gilanis are traditional rivals of Qureshis of Multan and their party affiliations are simply the dictate of their local rivalry. In 1946, Gilanis joined Muslim League as their rival Qureshis were in Unionist Party. Current Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s granduncle Muhammad Raza Shah Gilani contested 1946 election against Murid Hussain who was grandfather of Shah Mahmud Qureshi (until recently Foreign Minister of Gilani). The less influential Gardezis also joined Muslim League in late 1940s to compete with their more powerful rivals in Multan. Same was the case of Bosans who wanted to ride the rising tide of Muslim League to gain advantage against their local rivals entrenched on Unionist platform.
In post independence period majority of the politicians of the region continued to shift their loyalties depending on the prevailing situation. The only set back to these entrenched interests was in 1970 elections. Several factors such as universal franchise, increased urbanization, education, increased participation of youth and personal charisma of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto contributed to a major set back to these influential elites in 1970 elections. Only nine were able to win national assembly seats out of total 82 allocated to Punjab (Shaukat Hayat, Mumtaz Daultana, Pir of Makhad and Zakir Qureshi won on Council Muslim League tickets, Anwar Ali Noon, Sadiq Hussain Qureshi and Abbas Hussain Gardezi on PPP ticket and Nawab Muzzafar Khan of Kalabagh and Sher Baz Khan Mazari as independents). However, many made a very quick come back by joining PPP at the peak of its power and the rest as they say is history.
All in the Family
Intermarriages are an interesting phenomenon among Pakistan’s political elite. There is complex web of intermarriages among Pirs (as a general rule Sayeds tracing their lineage from the Prophet do not marry non-Sayeds) as well as between Pirs and landed aristocracy. Few examples will show that this arrangement expands influence and protects interests during troubled times. Different members of the family are usually affiliated with different parties. This could be the result of family and factional rivalries or a safeguard measure so that interests are not threatened when a different party is in power. One example from the Gilani clan will suffice. Current Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s maternal aunt is married to late Pir of Pagara; head of his own small faction of PML and well known for his close association with military rulers. Gilani’s are also related by marriage to Makhdoomzadas of Rahim Yar Khan. In 1985, Yusuf Raza Gilani became federal minister under General Zia ul Haq due to the influence of his two uncles through marriages; Pir Pagara and Makhdoomzada Hassan Mahmud, both close to Zia. The second tier of this relationship is strengthened by marriage of Gilani’s son Abdul Qadir to Pir Pagara’s granddaughter.
The powerful Hayat family of Wah is related by marriage to Haroon family of Sindh, Qureshis of Multan, Mians of Baghbanpura in Lahore and Abbasis of Bahawalpur. This connection is not limited to political heavy weights but also to senior civil servants (i.e. Syed Fida Hassan who was principle advisor to General Ayub Khan and B. A. Qureshi who was Chief Secretary of West Pakistan). A close study of intermarriages of Daultanas of Vehari also shows a similar pattern. Daultanas are related by marriages to Qureshis of Sargodha, Kharals of Kamalia, Chattas of Gujranwala, Bharwanas of Jhang, Khoros of Larkana and even Pushtun Khattaks. One of the reasons of Daultana-Hayat alliance throwing their lot with Muslim League in late 1940s was their rivalry with Noon-Tiwana alliance that was solidly Unionist. Party affiliation was not the result of any ideology but to secure interests through levers of power. This is quite evident from the fact that after independence, Iftikhar Hussain Mamdot, Mumtaz Daultana, Mian Iftikharuddin and Shaukat Hayat stick together for barely a year and by January 1949 Punjab Muslim League government was ridden with such fissures that Governor had to assume responsibility.
Another example will show how the marriage connections worked in electoral politics. In 1936 elections, Mumtaz Daultana was elected from his native Multan constituency on a seat reserved for landholders while his father Ahmad Yar Khan was elected from home constituency on rural quota. Mumtaz’s maternal uncle Sir Chaudhry Shahabuddin (two sisters were married to Shahabuddin and Ahmad Yar); a Jat won his seat from Sialkot. All were Unionists and when the dust settled young Mumtaz was sitting in an assembly where his father was a minister and maternal uncle speaker. In 1946, when the star of Muslim League was rising, the deck needed to be shuffled. Mumtaz had now joined Muslim League but election strategy needed to be carefully balanced. Mumtaz won the seat from his uncle Shahabuddin’s Sialkot constituency where kinship connection of Jats and urban influence of Muslim League helped Mumtaz thus leaving the native Mailsi seat to another family member. After independence, Mumtaz served as Chief Minister of Punjab and later Chief Minister of West Pakistan and Defence Minister. He won 1970 elections but later left as High Commissioner to London. The seat vacated by him was filled by his cousin Riaz Ahmad Daultana. Riaz had won on PPP ticket but later somersaulted and joined General Zia ul Haq after martial law. Mumtaz’s son Javed was elected Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) on PPP ticket in 1977 but won the same seat on IJI ticket in 1988. He lost in 1990 but beat the same opponent in 1993. Old hands never fade away but reincarnated several times appearing in different colors and shades.
Lagharis can boast that four generations (Jamal Khan, Muhammad Khan, Farooq Ahmad Khan and Awais Khan) without any interruption have served as ministers regardless of the shape of the polity starting from the Raj in 1921 right up to 2008. The rulers and political power holders with whom they aligned included Sikhs, British, Unionists, Muslim League, PPP, PML-Q and now PTI. Intermarriages of Lagharis with other powerful families provide another aspect of expanding influence. A scion of intermarriage into Nawab of Kalabagh family is Sumaira Malik (federal minister during General Mussharraf’s time) while Asma Mamdot (she is Punjab assembly member) is example of intermarriage in Mamdot family. Lagharis have also intermarried with their old rivals Khosas. The result is that five sitting members of Punjab assembly of different tribes and clans are related to each other. To avoid the confusion, I will use their relationship with Asma Mamdot. Sardar Zulfiqar Khan Khosa and Iftikhar Hussain Khan Mamdot are her uncles, Sardar Dost Muhammad Khosa is her cousin and Sardar Yusuf Khan Laghari is her nephew.
Noons hold the record of sending representatives to all legislatures dating back to 1921 (only time they were absent at the top was the period 1958-62 when Ayub ruled without a legislature). The career of Sir Firoz Khan Noon summarizes the family’s fortunes spanning British Raj and rise and fall of Muslim League. He was member of Legislative Council from 1921-36 serving as minister and then went to London as First Indian High Commissioner. In his absence from Punjab, his father Hayat Khan Noon and cousin Sardar Khan Noon were elected to assembly and served as minister in Unionist ministry. On return to India, Firoz served as Defence Minister at Viceroy’s Council. In 1945, seeing the rising tide of Muslim League, he jumped on this new train speeding its way to power. He was not disappointed as his rise to power was meteoric after independence. He started as revenue minister in Punjab followed by ascension to the offices of Governor of East Bengal, Chief Minister of Punjab, Chief Minister of West Pakistan, Foreign Minister and ultimately Prime Minister of Pakistan. He was ousted by Ayub Khan’s coup and barred from politics but that didn’t diminish family’s influence. His son Malik Noor Hayat Khan was elected to national assembly in indirect elections engineered by Ayub. In 1970 he lost on PML-Qayum ticket to his relative Anwar Ali Khan who was running on PPP ticket.
Eclipse
Many influential families were not able to maintain their preeminent power and political influence with changing situation. One Tiwana branch (Mitha Tiwana) of Shahpur and Gurmanis of Muzzaffargarh are examples of such families. Sir Umar Hayat Tiwana and his son Sir Khizr Hayat Tiwana were on the top of their game for six decades. Refusal of Khizr to jump on Muslim League wagon at the time of partition, dwindling personal and family finances, family rivalries and lack of interest of his son to pursue political career (he settled in United States) resulted in eclipse of this powerful Mitha Tiwana branch of Tiwana clan. However, this didn’t mean complete eclipse of Tiwanas. Other two branches (Hamoka and Mundial Tiwanas) and especially their link with Noons through intermarriages ensured their presence in legislatures.
Mumtaz Tiwana from Hamoka joined Muslim League and in 1946 elections lost to Khizr. In 1951 elections Mumtaz’s two sons Habibullah and Fateh Muhammad won on Muslim League tickets. Fateh later became president of the break away Convention Muslim League faction. His son Muhammad Anwar won in 1965 elections. Mumtaz’s another grandson Ahmad Iqbal joined General Zia-ul-Haq’s set up and won 1985 elections. In 2008 elections, four out of five contenders of Khushab national assembly constituency were Tiwanas or related to Tiwanas (Malik Shakir Awan of PML-N, Sultan Muhammad Tiwana of PPPP and Ehsanullah Tiwana and Faizullah Tiwana as independents). Winner Malik Shakir Awan was nephew of one of his rivals Faizullah Tiwana. Rise of newly empowered local groups like Awans, Parachas, Qureshis and Cheemas in the last thirty years also contributed to decline of old power brokers.
Gurmanis had all the essential elements of power including strong tribal pedigree, ownership of land and spiritual leadership. Influence of Gurmanis eroded gradually due to various factors. This included loss of their social prestige among Baluchs by marriages with Jats (they very soon resembled Jats rather than Baluchs), economic decline due to division of lands among increasing progeny and inability to maintain spiritual influence due to neglect of their disciples associated with shrines of Mian Habib and Mian Mahbub. The last of the scion of Gurmanis was Nawab Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani. He started his career as Unionist and was parliamentary private secretary to Premier Sikandar Hayat Khan in 1937 ministry. He served as Prime Minister of the state of Bahawalpur and joined Muslim League when its star was rising in late 1940s. He was actively involved in the intrigues that plagued Pakistan’s polity from 1949-1958. He served as Chief Minister of Punjab as well as Governor of Punjab and West Pakistan. He was instrumental in stabbing Muslim League in the back by launching Republican Party with the help of Governor General and later President Sikandar Mirza and Dr. Khan Sahib. He was sent to political wilderness when Ayub Khan declared Martial law in 1958 due to Gurmanis close association with Sikandar Mirza.
Several factors over the last six decades contributed towards gradual loss of influence of many leading families. The most crucial factor is steady decline of individual landholdings due to division among family members. Other factors including urbanization, education, geographic and social mobility, economic independence and general awareness also contributed to the change. Now even an influential politician has to work hard to win his seat.
The reason for switching political parties is to use levers of power to keep the constituency happy. Two main instruments, one negative and one positive are used for this purpose. The negative instrument is recruitment in public sector organizations such as railways, national airline, customs, police etc. irrespective of merit or requirement. This measure made the constituents happy but ran all these organizations into the ground. The positive instrument is bringing infrastructure projects such as roads, bridges, schools, colleges and hospitals to the community. As a general rule, in rural constituency if the politician is out of the government in two successive election cycles then it is very difficult for him to make a come back as vacuum is filled by the competition.
Conclusion
This brief survey of powerful political elites resembles rise and decline of landed aristocracy in eighteenth century Britain. Landed aristocracy had firm control of both the army (purchase of commission ensured that only wealthy landed elites could afford it) and Parliament (landownership was main requirement for contesting elections and a peerage was the pass needed to sit in the House of Lords. Pirs of Pakistan resembling Church of England’s clergy called Lords Spirituals of the House of Lords). Many ambitious eighteenth century men climbed the social ladder through their exploits in the colonies. Men who accumulated wealth by conquering and managing India, West Indies, Cuba, Philippines and North America used this wealth to buy estates and then access to the Parliament. Those connected with India were called ‘East India men’ and were nick named ‘nabobs’. In 1761 elections, twelve nabobs won their seats but their numbers gradually increased and there were twenty five in 1768, twenty six in 1774, thirty one in 1780 and fort five in 1784. In some cases seats were outright bought by bidding (boroughs that put their seats up for sale were called ‘venal boroughs’). The classic case was a by-election of 1770 when New Shoreham, put itself up for sale to the highest bidder and not surprisingly all three candidates; William James, John Purling and Thomas Rumbold were nabobs. Fourth candidate Richard Smith also a nabob quickly got out of the race when his offer of £3,000 for the seat was considered by the group which ran the borough to be too low. Another example of buying influence in Parliament is case of first Governor General of India Warren Hastings. He was acutely aware of the influence in Parliament in view of charges of corruption to be brought against him. In 1784 elections he bought a seat for his former ADC John Scott for £4,000. No surprise that Scott was Hastings’s defender throughout the proceedings. In United States, slave owners and landed aristocracy held levers of power for long time and in modern time money from large corporations plays a big role in politics. In Indian politics, money from large financial houses and industrial giants is steadily creeping and eroding the very foundation of democracy.
It is fashionable in postcolonial societies to reinterpret history through the lens of nationalism; a concept brought by modern European education and ideology. Post-independence writers have simply labeled ‘collaborators’ all those who were connected with colonial administration ignoring the ground realities of social scene and conflicts that were plaguing Indian sub-continent before the arrival of British. Exploitative and oppressive aspect of large landholders has significantly declined (probably with the exception of some areas of rural Sindh) in view of social changes in the last six decades. Old stereotypes are probably not applicable to present day generation and there is a wide spectrum ranging from the good, the bad and the ugly. Some among the earlier generation now in their fifties have maintained strong rural ethos with simplicity in their manners and a touch of rural humor. The younger generation mostly educated in Europe and North America is well polished and a pleasant company though somewhat detached from their rural roots. Many are socially conscious and involved in education and philanthropy.
Some of my own observations from close quarters provided me the opportunity to see various shades. Some address their personal servants as ‘son’ and treat them with respect in contrast to the behavior of some nouveau riche. In a recent wedding in a rural area of Punjab, I was pleasantly surprised that a huge gathering of about four thousand people included wealthy and powerful of the land and tenants and tillers of the soil. It is to the credit of the hosts that arrangement was same for all the guests. There was no distinction for the wealthy and the poor farmer and all were comfortably seated under the same huge tent and served the same food.
Landholders of the region benefited from the prosperity brought by canal colonies and attachment with colonial administration. They were local power holders when British introduced limited participation of Indians in the administration. These power holders became sole representatives in lieu of their own ascendant position in the society and preference of colonial government. In the last sixty years, their influence is gradually weaning but in some areas they still have local influence. This influence is expressed as control over certain electoral constituencies. However, this influence is not absolute and to maintain that influence they need instruments of power to benefit their constituents. In every society, there is competition among various power groups and these power groups evolve with time and traditional political elites of the region are no exception.
Note: Author thanks many not only for their valuable input but also walking me through a complex web of details. Many were very gracious with their hospitality and time. All conclusions as well as errors and omissions are author’s sole responsibility.
