Muhajir Urdu

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See Muhajir page for all Muhajir groups in the world
The Muhajirs

Image:Un musharraf.jpgImage:Liaquat Ali Khan.jpgImage:Murad.jpg

Total population 13.2 million
Regions with significant populations Pakistan,Bangladesh,United Kingdom,Saudi Arabia,Australia,United States,Canada
Language Urdu
Religion Islam( a Sunni majority and a Shia minority) <tr> 
<th style="background-color:#fee8ab;">Related ethnic groups</th>
<td style="background-color:#fff6d9;">Other Indo-Aryan peoples Punjabis,Memons,Gujaratis,Sindhis</td>

</tr>

Muhajir or Mohajir (Arabic: مہاجر) is an Indo-Aryan ethnic group in Pakistan. It is essentially used to describe the Urdu speaking Muslims that migrated to Pakistan after the independence of Pakistan and their descendants .

Contents

[edit] Origin and meaning

Muhajir is an Arabic word, widely used in the Muslim world that refers to someone who has emigrated from one place to another. In particular, it refers to the early Muslims, companions of Prophet Muhammad, who emigrated with him from Makkah to Medina in the wake of the Hijra, as opposed to the Ansar, or Madinan Muslims of the time. (See Muhajirun.)

[edit] Historical background

The Muhajirs migrated to Pakistan in 1947 from the present-day Indian states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh (then the princely state of Hyderabad). They are united by many identical socio-cultural elements which include speaking the Urdu language as a mother tongue. Muhajirs are spread throughout Pakistan, with large concentrations in many urban areas (See below).

[edit] Muhajirs in Pakistan

Muhajirs were amongst the pioneers of the independence movement and were the people who left their ancestral land, relatives and businesses for Pakistan. They are in significant numbers in many of the large urban areas of Pakistan's Sindh and Punjab Provinces especially in Karachi (6.0 million) (49% of the district's population), Hyderabad (35%), Lahore (10%), Multan (15%), Islamabad/Rawalpindi (7%), Faisalabad, Sukkur (13%), Nawabshah (11%), Bahawalpur (5.5%) and Mirpurkhas. NB Percentages relate to number of people identifying themselves as 'Urdu Speaking' in the 1998 Census of Pakistan.

[edit] Muhajirs in Bangladesh

In addition to the above population, an estimated 300,000 Urdu speaking Muhajirs from Bihar State live in 64 refugee camps throughout Bangladesh, a large proportion in the capital city, Dacca. They were displaced from their newly settled homes after the independence of Bangladesh, formerly and may more East Pakistan. See also Biharis

[edit] Culture

[edit] Political ideology

Muhajirs hold moderate, liberal and an unorthodox political viewpoint. Most tend to be secular and support ideals of Western democracy. Most Muhajirs held comfortable vocations in British India.

[edit] Language

It is the Urdu اردو language that binds muhajirs together as a subculture within Pakistani society. Urdu has been the medium of the literature, history and journalism of South Asian Muslims during the last 200 years. Most of the work was complemented by ancestors of present Muhajirs and native Urdu speakers in India. Though Urdu is the lingua franca in Pakistan, only about 8% of the population uses it as a mother tongue. The accent of Muhajirs is considered standard and decisive within Pakistan.

Although after emergence of Tarraqi-Pasand Tehreek, Punjab rose as one of the important centers of the Urdu language and produced many praiseworthy poets and story writers. However, the work on Urdu literary criticism, journalism, history, semantics, lexicography and theoretical and applied linguistics have been carried out by Muhajirs.

[edit] Lifestyle

The urban lifestyle of Pakistan is mostly colored by Muhajirs in the major cities of Pakistan, as they originally immigrated from mostly urban centers of India before the independence of Pakistan.

[edit] Cuisine

[edit] Discrimination

Most Muhajirs who originally immigrated to Pakistan are relatively more educated and skilled than their rural middle class counterparts. Despite having better academic qualifications and professional skills, some Muhajirs felt discrimination in public services. Introduction of a quota system, between provinces and in urban and rural Sindh.

Today, many observers have said that the open discrimination against Muhajirs has considerablly been reduced. This was helped by the fact that some of the top Pakistani figures are of muhajir descent, which includes people of the performing arts and sports. It is also believed that discrimination against muhajirs has reduced or even vanished in some areas as current President of Pakistan and de facto ruler, Pervez Musharraf, and the Governor of Sindh are both Muhajirs. In addition to that, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a Muhajir political party, is running the city district government of the city of Karachi and is publicly allied to the central government in Islamabad.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Muhajirs only constituted 7% of the Pakistani population but monopolized most of its bureaucracy due to their higher educational backgrounds. Academia, finance, and the service sector in general quickly became engorged with Muhajir influence. This created resentment in other linguistic and ethnic groups of Pakistan, mainly the Punjabis who own most of the indigenous land of what became Pakistan. The Pakistani government tried to create a balance by introducing job quotas in bureaucracy and educational institutions to help other ethnic and linguistic groups to get their fair representation comparable to their share in the Pakistani population. This affirmative action by the government of Pakistan was resented by the Muhajirs who preferred qualification and merit as the only criteria for jobs and admission into universities.

[edit] Massacre of Alighar

On December 14, 1986, a group of armed Afghans, seized the Alighar, Orangi and Qasba colonies and adjacent areas of Karachi and killed innocent Muhajirs, burnt shops and houses, and raped women. The total number of Muhajirs killed is unknown but some estimates put figure as high as 286.

[edit] 1992 military operation

Image:Police-4.jpg
Mohajirs killed by the sindh police.Template:Unverifiedimage

June 19, 1992, an army operation was launched by the Pakistan Army on orders of Nawaz Sharif which was approved by parliament, to crush terrorists in Karachi. The Army and State Agencies of Pakistan took action against terrorists and destroyed them successfully to restore calm in Karachi and Hyderabad. During this time, MQM leader Altaf Hussain, with help of Nawaz Sharif, left the country. Many observers say that this action by Nawaz Sharif created rifts between him and the Army.

[edit] Muhajirs and the rise of MQM

The MQM party was formed by Altaf Hussain in 1985 which sought to bring political representation to the muhajir community. The party currently holds a very strong footing in Karachi and urban Sindh ( Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas & Nawabshah ). Now the MQM is making inroads into the Northern Areas including Azad Kashmir. It is also active abroad, most notably in the UK, the US, and Canada where there is a significant diaspora of Pakistani muhajirs.

It is generally believed in Pakistan that the MQM was created by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the main military intelligence agency in Pakistan. It was created to break the stronghold of Benazir Bhutto in her home province, Sindh. ISI believed that the ethnic tension between Sindhis and Muhajirs would distract Benazir Bhutto and her political party, Pakistan Peoples Party, from launching a campaign against the military government of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Altaf Hussain was living in Chicago at the time and was called to form a Muhajir ethnic political party with funds supplied by the ISI.

The success of MQM in attracting support of Muhajirs both surprised and scared the ISI. This unexpected popularity helped the MQM to chart its own independent political course rather than follow the ISI agenda. MQM went out of control of ISI and began a violent struggle for Muhajirs that turned Karachi into a virtual war-zone. In 1992, after months of extreme violence by the MQM, the Pakistan Army launched a military operation to restore law and order in Karachi. The MQM gunmen were killed or arrested, and armories and torture rooms were destroyed. The Army involvement is an indication of the seriousness of the crisis that MQM perpetrated in Karachi. Since the army operation and the subsequent heavy activities of Pakistani police and paramilitary, the MQM has given up its violent activities.

[edit] Muhajir celebrities after 1947

See main article for complete list: Famous Muhajirs

[edit] Politics

[edit] Judiciary

[edit] Diplomats

[edit] Bankers

[edit] Industrialists/Enterpreneurs

[edit] Religious Scholars

[edit] Educationists

[edit] Scientists

[edit] Art and literature

  • Moulvi Abdul Haq (father of modern Urdu)
  • Josh Malihabadi (poet, linguist)
  • Nasir Kazmi (poet)
  • Dilawer Figar (humorous poet)
  • Mahir-ul-Qadri (critic, linguist)
  • Sadequain (painter, calligraphist)
  • Rais Amrohvi (journalist, psychoanalyst)

[edit] Performing art and media

[edit] Sports

[edit] External links

[edit] MQM Websites

Ar:مهاجر Fa:مهاجر Ur:مهاجرes:Mohajir fr:Muhadjir

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