Feudalism in Pakistan

Feudalism in contemporary Pakistan usually refers to the power and influence of large landowning families, particularly those with very large estates in more remote areas. The adjective "feudal" in the context of Pakistan has been used to mean "a relatively small group of politically active and powerful landowners." "Feudal attitude" refers to "a combination of arrogance and entitlement." According to the Pakistan Institute of Labor Education and Research (PILER), 5% of agricultural households in Pakistan own nearly two-thirds of Pakistan's farmland.

Large joint families in Pakistan may possess hundreds or even thousands of acres of land, while making little or no direct contribution to agricultural production, which is handled by "peasants or tenants who live at subsistence level." Landlord power may be based on control over local people through debt bondage passed down generation after generation, and power over the distribution of water, fertilisers, tractor permits and agricultural credit, which in turn gives them influence over the revenue, police and judicial administration of local government. In recent times, particularly "harsh feudalism" has existed in rural Sindh, Balochistan, and some parts of Southern Punjab. Pakistan's major political parties have been called "feudal-oriented", and as of 2007, more than two-thirds of the National Assembly (Lower House) and most of the key executive posts in the provinces were held by feudals, according to scholar Sharif Shuja.

Explanations for the power of "feudal" landowning families that has waned in other post-colonial societies such as India include lack of land reform in Pakistan.

Criticism and analysis

Critics of feudalism have complained of a culture of feudal impunity, where local police will refuse to pursue charges against an influential landowning family even when murder or mayhem have been committed; of abuse of power by some landlords who may place enemies in "private prisons" and "enslave" local people through debt bondage; the harming of progress and prosperity by feudals who discourage the education of their "subjects" for fear it will weaken feudal power; the giving of space to extremists who peasants turn to in the search for deliverance from the cruelty of feudal lords; and an agriculture sector made stagnant by absentee landlordism.

Others have complained that Pakistan has developed a "fixation" on feudalism (Michael Kugelman); that it has become a scapegoat for Pakistan's problems, frequently denounced but not seriously studied (Eqbal Ahmed); a "favorite boogie of the urban educated elites"; or that it does not exist because South Asia never developed large concentrations of land ownership or a feudal class, and what is called feudal in Pakistan is merely a "rural gentry", who are "junior partners" to those who actually hold power (Haider Nizamani). “Feudalism serves as the whipping boy of Pakistan’s intelligentsia. Yet, to my knowledge few serious studies have been published on the nature and extent of feudal power in Pakistan, and none to my knowledge on the hegemony which feudal culture enjoys in this country.” Nicolas Martin's work is in this respect an exception, although he argues that it is politically influential landlords, and not all landlords, who wield the despotic and arbitrary powers that are often attributed to the landed classes as a whole.

Despite its political influence, feudalism has become so unpopular in public expression and the media that "feudal lords" are denounced even by some from "feudal" families (such as Shehbaz Sharif).

In media portrayals, the very popular 1975 Pakistan Television (PTV) series Waris centered around a feudal lord (Chaudhry Hashmat) who rules his fiefdom, "with an iron grip".

History

In Mughal Empire

"It was Akbar not the British colonizers who left us this parasitical curse". When the British first set foot on the Undivided India, the Mughals were in rule over most part of the region. As a part of their revenue administration was the mansabdari system through which they regulated control over the land revenue of the country. This system, introduced by Mughal Emperor Akbar, remained in place from the late 16th Century (dates vary between 1575 and 1595) till the fall of the Mughal Empire. A Brief History of British Land Acquisition in India

This acquisition of lands – and its pattern – determined the method of revenue collection that the colonial power opted for, beginning with the diwani, the first time the British gained the right to collect revenue from local land. In due time, with the introduction of the British Raj, they would stamp their legal authority over the Undivided India by introducing a number of reforms that would systematically create a new breed of intermediaries in the revenue system.

Under colonial rule

Difference from Modern Feudalism

Often criticized for being the root of our modern feudal system, the mansabdari system was in fact different in many essential ways. First and foremost, the system granted ownership on a non-hereditary transferable basis. The officials, mansabdars, who were granted the job of overseeing of the land, never owned their mansabs but were only granted a share of its earnings as a reward for their work. Thus, since they never owned the land, they did not have the right to pass it on to their offspring, either. This non-ownership of land is the essential difference between modern feudalism and the Mughal mansabdari system.

Mansabdars turn into Petty Chiefs

However, after the fall of the Mughal Empire, these mansabdars, turned into de facto hereditary landlords and petty chiefs of their mansabs. With the Mughal ruler gone, there was no one to stop them from doing so. But, sadly for them, soon enough, a new force was to gain control of their land – the British.

In independent Pakistan

Almost half of Pakistan's GDP and the bulk of its export earnings are derived from the agricultural sector, which is controlled by a few elite feudal families. Some of the most powerful feudal dynasties include the Jatoi, Zardari, Mazari, Mehr, Malik, Chaudhary, Bhutto, Mirani, Khan, Ranjha family of Kot Sher Muhammad, Zehri, Khar, Gillani, Qureshi, Makhdoom, Mulqani families each own thousands of acres of prime agricultural land with thousands of villagers living on and tending to the family land. The Jatoi family owns 45,000 acres of land and the Khan family owns 30,000 acres. The Khar, Ranjha, Mirani, Makhdoom and Mulqani families are smaller each owning between 6,000 to 12,000 acres of agricultural land. With this concentration of economic power, they also have considerable political power.During the land reforms in Pakistan, several large land-owning families in the Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) were affected. Notably, the Swati Jagirdar family, among others in the region, faced redistribution of their lands as part of these reforms. The reforms aimed to alleviate land concentration and promote agricultural equity, impacting many prominent families in Hazara.

The leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League, the political party that established Pakistan in 1947, was dominated primarily by feudal landowners such as the Taluqdars, Zamindars, Chaudharys, Rajas, Rais, Mahers, Maliks, Khans, Jagirdars, Nawab, Zaildar, Sardars. The sole exception were the Jinnahs.

During the '50s and the '60s, the feudal families retained control over national affairs through the bureaucracy and military. In 1971, they assumed direct power as Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was from a very large landowning family and retained it until the military regained power. Nawab Malik Amir Mohammad Khan, an Awan, was Nawab of Kalabagh and remained governor of West Pakistan from 1960-1966.

The former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Yousuf Raza Gilani, is a major landowner from South Punjab (Multan) and from a long-standing political family. The President former Asif Ali Zardari is a large landowner from Sindh as well as the widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Hamid Nasir Chattha's (former Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan) family has held power for decades in Gujranwala-hafizabad districts as the Chief of the Chattha Feudal. Khalid Mahmood Ranjha (MPA Provincial Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Parliamentary Affairs) and Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha (MNA former Federal Minister of State) family has held power for decades in Mandi Bahauddin District and Sargodha District as the Chief Ranjha family of Kot Sher Muhammad feudals. Hina Rabbani Khar (MNA former Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs) and Ghulam Mustafa Khar (MPA former Governor of Punjab) family has held power for decades in Muzaffargarh District as the Chief Khar family of Khar Gharbi feudal. Shah Mehmood Qureshi (MNA former Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs) hails from a prominent feudal Sufi family in Multan and is also followed as a religious saint.

Thus, large landowners have dominated Pakistan's politics since the country's inception.

Balochistan

1)The Royal Khans of Kalat 2)Chief Bugti family 3)Chief Marri family 4)The Royal Jams of Lasbela 5)Chief Raisani family 6)Chief Magsi family of Jhal 7)Chief Rind family 8)Chief Jamali family 9)Chief Mengal family 10)Chief Barozai family 13)Chief Raisani family

Sindh

1)Chief Chandio family 2)Chief Mahar family 3)Chief Jatoi family 4)The Royal Nawabs of Talpur family 5)Pir of Pagaro family 6)Chief Bhutto family 7)Chief Zardari family 8)Chief Mirza family 9)Chief Gabol Baloch family 10)Syed family of Nawabshah 11)Chief Khoro family 12)Chief Wassan family

Punjab

1)Royal Abbasi Nawabs of Bahawalpur 2)Tiwanas of Shahpur 3)Nawab Awans of Attock & Mianwali 4)Nawab Khattars of Wah 5)Noons of Nurpur 6)Ranjhas of Kot Sher Muhammad 7)Nawab Sials of Jhang 8)Khars of Khar Gharbi 9)Nawab Qureshi family 10)Chief Leghari family 11)Chief Chattha family 12)Chief Mazari family 13)Chief Gurchani family 14)Syed family of Jhang 15)Ranas of Phool Nagar 16)Dahas and Hirajs of Khanewal 17)Makhdoom family of Multan & Rahimyarkhan 18)Laks & Badranas of Sargodha 19)Tarars of Hafizabad 20)Gillani's of Multan and Sahiwal

KPK

1)Royal Wali e Sawat family 2)Swati Jagirdar family of Hazara Division 3)Nawab Hoti family 4)Chief Gandapur family 5)Chief Khatak family of Nowshera 6)Chief Marwat family 7)Nawabs of Dir family 8)Nawabs of Khanpur family 9)Arbab family 10)Sherpao family 11)Syeds of Kaghan 12)Ayub Khan family of Hazara

See also

• The State of Bonded Labor in Pakistan
• Indian feudalism
• Politics of Pakistan
• Agriculture in Pakistan § Land distribution and land reform
• Islamic economics in Pakistan § Land reform and Islamisation
• Murder of Nazim Jokhio

Further reading

• Ansari, Sarah. 1992. Sufi Saints and State Power: The Pirs of Sind, 1843-1947. Cambridge University Press.
• Alavi, Hamza. 1980. "India: Transition from Feudalism to Colonial Capitalism." Journal of Contemporary India, 10, 359–399.
• Cheesman, David. 1997. Landlord power and rural indebtedness in colonial Sind, 1865-1901. Routledge.
• Coulborn, Rushton. 1968. "Feudalism, Brahmanism and the Intrusion of Islam upon Indian History." Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 10, no. 3 (April), 356–374.
• Gopal, K. K. 1962. "Feudal Composition of Army in Early Medieval India." Journal of the Andhra Historical Research Society, 28.
• Gopal, Lallanji. 1963. "On Some Problems of Feudalism in Ancient India." Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 44, 1-32.
• Habib, Irfan. 1974. "The Social Distribution of Landed Property in Pre-British India (a historical survey)." Historical Probings in Memory of D. D. Kosambi, 264–316. Editors R. S. Sharma, and V. Jha. New Delhi: Peoples Publishing House.
• Herring, Ronald J. 1979. "Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the 'Eradication of Feudalism' in Pakistan". Comparative Studies in Society and History, 21, 519–557. doi:10.1017/S0010417500013165.
• Mohmand, Shandana Khan & Gazdar, Haris. 2007. Social Structures in Rural Pakistan. Asian Development Bank.
• Mukhia, Harbans. 1981. "Was there Feudalism in Indian History?" Journal of Peasant Studies, vol. 8, no. 3, 273–310.
• Naim Ullah, Mohammed. 2003. Pakistan Under the Stranglehold of Feudalism (Pakistan Jagirdari Zamindari Nizam Ke Shikajije Men): A Nation Under the Agony of Fundamentalism. Rehmat Publications.
• Pearson, Michael N. 1985. "Land, Noble and Ruler in Mughal India." In Feudalism: Comparative Studies, edited by Sir Edmund Leach, S.N. Mukherjee and John O. Ward, 175–196. Sydney: Sydney Studies in Society and Culture.
• Martin, Nicolas. 2015. Politics, landlords and Islam in Pakistan. Routledge India.

External links

• Pakistan land reform 2007
• Massive peasant conference demands end of feudalism internationalviewpoint.org
• Feudalism in Pakistan by Asian Human Right Commission 2010