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Competitions for Resources: Partition's Evacuee Property and the Sustenance of Corruption in Pakistan*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2012

ILYAS CHATTHA
ILYAS CHATTHA*
Affiliation:
Department of History, School of Humanities, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK Email: ilyaschattha@gmail.com
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Abstract

This paper explores the part that the redistribution of evacuee property—the property abandoned by departing Hindus and Sikhs during the mass migrations after Partition—played in the institutionalization of corruption in Pakistan. By drawing on hitherto unexplored sources, including Pakistan's Rehabilitation Department papers, local police files and court records, it highlights the schemes of illegal appropriation, misappropriation, and paints a wholly convincing portrait of the scramble for millions of rupees worth of abandoned property in the towns and countryside of West Punjab. It shows how politicians, bureaucrats, powerful local notables and enterprising refugee groups grabbed properties, mainly by bribing officers charged with allocating them to incoming refugees, or by utilizing their personal contacts. The paper argues that the fierce competition for resources and temptations for evacuee property encouraged the emergence of a ‘corruption’ discourse which not only contributed to an atmosphere that was detrimental to democratic consolidation in the early years of Pakistan's history, but also justified later military intervention. This not only adds to the empirical knowledge of Partition and its legacies, but also makes a significant contribution towards our understanding of the transitional state in Pakistan.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 46 , Issue 5 , September 2012 , pp. 1182 - 1211
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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References

1 ‘Corruption’ in inverted commas is used to refer to public discourses around notions of ‘accountability’. These are highly politicized and have undermined the process of democratic consolidation. Corruption, though difficult to measure, is according to the World Bank ‘an act of individuals or groups that take advantage of public office for private gain’. Besley, T., Principled Agents? The Political Economy of Good Government (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 10.Google Scholar The term corruption will be used in this paper in its broader sense of political, individual, petty and gross, to include not only all forms of ‘improper or selfish exercise of power and influence attached to a public office or to the special position one occupies in public life, but also to the activity of the bribers’ nepotism, favouritism, patronage and other unfair means adopted by government officials and the public alike to extract some socially and legally prohibited favours. Myrdal, G., ‘Corruption as Hindrance to Modernization in South Asia’, in Heidenheimer, A. J. and Johnston, M. (eds), Political Corruption: Concepts and Contexts (New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2002), pp. 265–280Google Scholar. In part, it also focuses on what Hellman calls ‘administrative corruption’, or the use of ‘private payments to public officials to distort the prescribed implementation of official rules and policies’. Hellman, S., Jones, G. and Kaufmann, D., ‘“Seize the State, Seize the Day”: State Capture, Corruption and Influence in Transition’, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 2444 (2000), p. 3Google Scholar. In the context of Pakistan, see Nisar, Q. S., The Code of bribery and anti-corruption laws: An exhaustive commentary on anti-corruption laws in Pakistan (Lahore: Law Publishing, 1988)Google Scholar.

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3 These figures are drawn from West Pakistan Year Books, 1958, 1959, 1960 and 1961, E1 (12), (Punjab Secretariat Archives, Lahore; henceforth PSA).

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5 NDC, File no. B50, 20/CF/48, Appendix A, Pakistan Ministry of Refugees and Rehabilitation, p. 9.

6 Zamindar, The Long Partition, Chapter 4, ‘Economies of Displacement’, pp. 120–157. Here I also refer to the work of Schechtman, J. B., ‘Evacuee Property in India and Pakistan’, Pacific Affairs, 24, 4 (December 1951), pp. 406–413Google Scholar.

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9 For an introduction to this ‘new history’ of Partition historiography, see Talbot and Singh, The Partition of India, pp. 16–24.

10 Kaur, R., ‘Distinctive Citizenship: Refugees, Subjects and Post-colonial State in India's Partition’, Cultural and Social History, 6, 4 (December 2009), pp. 429–446CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Virdee, P., ‘Partition in Transition: Comparative Analysis of Migration in Ludhiana and Lyallpur’, in Roy, A. G. and Bhatia, N. (eds), Partitioned Lives: Narratives of Home, Displacement and Resettlement (New Delhi: Pearson Longman, 2008), pp. 156–171Google Scholar; Talbot, I. and Tatla, D. S., Epicentre of Violence: Partition Voices and Memories from Amritsar (London: Permanent Black, 2006)Google Scholar. Waseem, M., ‘Urban Growth and Political Change at the Local Level: The Case Faisalabad City, 1947–75’, in Ahmed, A. S. (ed.), The Social Sciences Perspective (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1990), pp. 207–228Google Scholar.

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12 For a study of the patron-client relations and local level official corruption in the colonial Punjab, see Talbot, I., Punjab and the Raj: 1849–1947 (New Delhi: Manohar, 1988)Google Scholar.

13 Talbot, I., ‘The 1946 Punjab Elections’, Modern Asian Studies, 14, 1 (1980), pp. 65–91CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

14 Newberg, P. R., Judging the State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Paul Brass has shown that corruption was ‘endemic to the system even before Independence’; see P. Brass, ‘Corruption and Anti-Corruption on the Eve of Indian Independence’, a paper presented at the Annual Conference on South Asia, University of Wisconsin, Madison (19–22 October 2006). For the theme of transitional state from the late 1930s onwards, see Khan, The Great Partition.

15 In this period, many of the Unionist Party's landed leaders had shifted their allegiance towards the Muslim League by considering it to be a better vehicle for their interests. For the Punjab politics, see for example, Talbot, I., Khizr Tiwana, The Punjab Unionist Party and the Partition of India (London: Curzon, 1996), pp. 145–156Google Scholar.

16 ‘Pre-Partition Riot Spotlight’, Civil and Military Gazette (Lahore), 21 October 1949, p. 6.

17 For a discussion on the consequences for rehabilitation of the abandonment of a large amount of property by refugee populations, see Zweig, R. W., ‘Restitution of Property and Refugees Rehabilitation: Two Case Studies’, Journal of Refugee Studies, 6, 1 (1993), pp. 56–64Google Scholar. In relation to India and Pakistan, Zamindar shows the serious implications for ordinary people and reflects on the parallels between the subcontinent's legislation on evacuee property and that of Israel with respect to the Palestinians. Zamindar, The Long Partition, Chapter 4, ‘Economies of Displacement’, pp. 120–157.

18 PSA, West Pakistan Year Book 1956, E1 (12), p. 95.

19 Schechman, ‘Evacuee Property in India and Pakistan’, p. 407. For a discussion over the issue of difference in evacuee property between India and Pakistan, see Zamindar, The Long Partition, pp. 123–26. She quotes a report of India's ministry of rehabilitation that claimed difference to be a sum of ‘400 crores’.

20 For example in the district of Lahore, the Muslim majority of 60 per cent owned about 33 per cent of land and the non-Muslim minority of 39 per cent owned the remaining 67 per cent of land. In the city of Lahore, urban immoveable property tax paid by the Muslims was Rs 406,747 compared with Rs 940,248 paid by the non-Muslims (a difference of more than double). Out of 186 registered factories in Lahore 78 were owned by Muslims and the remainder belonged to Hindus and Sikhs, and out of 97 banks only 7 were owned by Muslims. The higher percentage of ownership was much the same in many other districts and cities of West Punjab. See for details, Singh, K. (ed.), Selected Documents on Partition of Punjab, India and Pakistan, 1947 (New Delhi: National Book Shop, 1991), Doc 101, p. 205Google Scholar; and also see, The Partition of the Punjab 1947: A Complication of Official Documents (Lahore: NDC, 1983), vol. III.

21 The West Punjab Protection of Evacuee Property Ordinance (VII of 1947), in All Pakistan Legal Decisions, XII (Lahore, 1960), p. 511. Intermittently, the authorities in Pakistan modified the definition of ‘abandoned’ or ‘empty’ properties and ‘evacuees’ or ‘intending evacuees’, as well as different sets of refugees’ right to the vacated resources. For a discussion on such categories, see Zamindar, The Long Partition, pp. 127–134; and also see Chattha, I., Partition and Locality: Violence, Migration and Development in Gujranwala and Sialkot, 1947–1961 (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2011)Google Scholar.

22 The Governor General Reports on Refugees and Rehabilitation, File 803, 1949, p. 2 (National Archives Islamabad).

23 By the end of January 1949, revenue records of 15,184 West Punjab villages had been handed over to the East Punjab government, and, in return, revenue records had been obtained from India of 14,449 villages of East Punjab and the East Punjab Princely States, and of 13 villages of Delhi areas. PSA, Resettlement of Refugees on Land in West Punjab, 1 July to 31 December 1954, E33, Part XIII, p. 5.

24 NDC, File no. 50B, 20/CF/49, Pakistan Ministry of Refugees and Rehabilitation, 1949, p. 8.

25 In reality, not all the abandoned agricultural land was available for refugee settlement. Many ‘evacuee landlords’ had rented their land to Muslim and Christian tenants or sepidars.

26 The authorities in Pakistan divided the places of origin of migrants in India into two main categories. The refugees who came from East Punjab, East Punjab States and Delhi areas fell in the category of ‘agreed areas’; and refugees who came from other areas (out of the disturbed areas of the Punjab) were placed in the category of ‘non-agreed areas’.

27 NDC, File no. B.50, 20/CF/49, Pakistan Ministry of Refugees and Rehabilitation, p. 8b.

28 PSA, the Punjab: A Review of First Five-Years, 1947–1952, File E1 (9), A 82 (2), pp. 35–36.

29 Inquilab (Lahore), 10 February 1948, p. 2.

30 The Punjab Police Abstract of Intelligence, Weeks Ending 13 and 27 September, 1947, pp. 456, 471; and Week Ending 4 October 1947, vol. LIXIX, p. 479, NIHCR.

31 Talbot, Divided Cities, p. 164.

32 Proceedings of the Punjab Legislative Assembly Debates (PPLAD), 6 January 1948, File no. D- 50 (4) 1948, PSA.

33 Tan and Kudaisya, The Aftermath of Partition, p. 199.

34 Maniruzzaman, T., ‘Group Interests in Pakistan Politics, 1947–1958’, Pacific Affairs, 39, 1 (1966), pp. 92–93CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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36 Chakrabarti, P., The Marginal Men: The Refugees and the Left Political Syndrome in West Bengal (Kalyani: Lumiere Books, 1990)Google Scholar.

37 The settlement of incoming refugees on the vacated land greatly affected a large number of standing local tenants. The service classes were also badly hit by the loss of long term patronage ties. Many Christians were forced for example to migrate to towns from the rural areas of West Punjab. The wider socio-economic consequence of this is beyond the scope of this paper, but it warrants much more serious exploration.

38 The Governor-General Reports on Refugees and Rehabilitation File no. 803, p. 25 (National Archives, Islamabad).

39 See for example, Talbot, Divided Cities, p. 82; Zamindar, The Long Partition, p. 150; Kaur, Since 1947; Khan, The Great Partition, p. 177; Tanwar, R., Reporting the Partition of India 1947: Press Public and Other Opinions (New Delhi: Manohar, 2006), pp. 57, 473Google Scholar; and also see Rai, S., Punjab since Partition: A Study of its Effects on the Politics and Administration of the Punjab 1947–1956 (New Delhi: Durga Publications, 1986), p. 128Google Scholar.

40 ‘Lahore Scribes Thrive at Expense of Refugees: Resettlement Claims a Vicious Circle’, Pakistan Times (Lahore), 17 July 1954, p. 2.

41 PPLAD, 6 January 1948, File no. D- 50 (4) 1948, p. 408, PSA.

42 Ibid.

43 The Punjab Police Abstract of Intelligence, Week Ending 20 September 1947, pp. 468–469.

44 Inquilab (Lahore), 2 May 1948, p. 2.

45 The Punjab Police Abstract of Intelligence, Week Ending 20 September 1947, pp. 468–469.

46 Civil and Military Gazette (Lahore), 28 February 1948, p. 3.

47 NDC, A note on the work done by the Punjab Government, Ministry of Refugees and Rehabilitation, File no. 36, 128 CF/48/, p.14.

48 Civil and Military Gazette (Lahore), 7 July 1950, p. 3.

49 Talbot, Divided Cities, p. 178.

50 NDC, File no. 262,-PMS/48, 128/CF/48, Ministry of Refugees and Rehabilitation, pp.36–37.

51 See for example, with respect to the Punjab, Jalal, The State of Martial; and Talbot, Pakistan: A Modern History. In relation to Sindh, Ansari's work Life After Partition has pointed out the political bickerings between the provincial authorities and the centre over the refugee resettlement in which the refugees ‘found themselves caught in the middle’, p. 94; and also see T. P. Wright, Jr; ‘Centre-Periphery Relations and Ethnic Conflict in Pakistan: Sindhis, Muhajirs, and Punjabis’, Comparative Politics, 23, 3 (April 1991), pp. 299–312.

52 NDC, File no. 262,-PMS/48, 128/CF/48, Ministry of Refugees and Rehabilitation, pp. 36–37.

53 NDC, File no. 1350, 20 CF/49/50, Ministry of Refugees and Rehabilitation, p. 2.

54 ‘Pakistan Provincial Disputes’, The Times (London), 26 April 1948, p. 3.

55 The Governor General Reports on Refugees and Rehabilitation File no. 803/b, 1949, p. 22 (National Archives Islamabad).

56 ‘Corruption in West Punjab’, The Times (London), 25 January 1949, p. 4.

57 Jalal, The State of Martial Rule, p. 146.

58 Shaikh, F., Making Sense of Pakistan (London: C. Hurst, 2009), pp. 132–140Google Scholar.

59 PPLAD, 10 March 1954, File no. D- 50 (4), p. 922–24, PSA.

60 Ibid., p. 924.

61 Ibid., p. 925.

62 The Punjab Police Abstract of Intelligence, Week Ending 4 October 1947, p. 477.

63 District Police Record Office (DPRO), Sheikhupura, FIR no. 172, Note Book 840, 20 April 1949, (Thana Civil Lines).

64 NDC, File No 50B, 20/CF/49, Pakistan Ministry of Refugees and Rehabilitation, pp. 18A-18B.

65 Ibid., p. 18B.

66 PSA, Land Settlement, January to June 1955, E 33, Part XIV, p. 2.

67 Interview with the Secretary of the Punjab Settlement Department, Rana Abdul Hamid, (at the Faridkot House office, Lahore), 22 January 2007.

68 Mrs Aisha Begum and others versus Settlement and Rehabilitation Commissioner, (judgement order: 283–30/1970), 1982 SCMR, XV, pp. 638–639.

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70 Chatterji, The Spoils of Partition.

71 Ahmed, F., ‘The Twenty-Two Families and the Rural Gods’, Pakistan Forum, 3, 12 (September 1973), pp. 22–23CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Some economists such as Tahir term this phase a ‘refugee economy’ as the entire government apparatus was engaged in the task of rehabilitation. Pervez, T., Pakistan: An Economic Spectrum (Lahore: Arslan Publications, 1974), p. 4Google Scholar; and also see, Andrus, J. R., Mohammed, A. F. and Afzal, M., ‘State and Private Enterprise in Pakistan’, Far Eastern Survey, 20, 7 (April 1951), p. 61CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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73 Waseem, Politics and the State in Pakistan, p. 113.

74 Waseem, ‘Urban Growth and Political Change at the Local Level’, pp. 207–228. For a discussion about the system of kinship in West Punjab, see Alvi, H., ‘Kinship in West Punjab Villages’, Contribution to Indian Sociology, 6, 1 (1972), pp. 1–27CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

75 Pakistan Times (Lahore), 17 July 1954, p. 2.

76 PPLAD, 22 March 1958, File no. D-50 (5), PSA.

77 The Punjab Police Abstract of Intelligence, Week Ending 13 September 1947, p. 456.

78 Ibid., Week Ending 27 September 1947, p. 471.

79 DPRO Lahore, FIR no. 189, Note Book 49/2, 11 December 1947, (Thana Mughal Pura).

80 ‘Recovery of Evacuee Property’, Civil and Military Gazetteer (Lahore), 6 July 1958, p. 3.

81 PSA, Land Settlement, January to June 1955, E33, Part XIV, p. 2.

82 Callard, K., Pakistan: A Political Study (London: Allen and Unmin Ltd, 1957), p. 298Google Scholar.

83 Mende, T., South- East Asia between Two Worlds (London: Turnstile Press, 1955), p. 227Google Scholar, cited in Myrdal, Corruption—Its Causes and Effects, p. 937.

84 Pakistan Times (Lahore), 4 October 1958, cited in Sayeed, ‘Collapse of Parliamentary Democracy in Pakistan’, p. 400.

85 Myrdal, ‘Corruption as a Hindrance to Modernization in South Asia’, p. 265.

86 PSA, West Pakistan Year Book, 1961, E1 (12) 1961, p. 99.

87 Ansari, Life After Partition, p. 187.

88 PSA, West Pakistan Year Book, 1959, E1 (12) 1959, p. 61.

89 PSA, West Pakistan Year Book, 1960, E1 (12) 1960, p.59.

90 The Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment 2005 Report by Director General Brigadier (r) Aslam Ghumman, published in Daily Times (Lahore), 21 March 2006.