With the partition of India at Independence, a multitude of problems concerning resettlement and assimilation arose as a large section of the Muslim population migrated to newly-created Pakistan. Among those who moved were the mohajirs, an Urdu-speaking community from northern India,
principally from Delhi and the surrounding areas. Although they had been at the forefront of the Pakistan Movement, they had no ethnic or geographical base in Pakistan. They believed that the Urdu language, manifest in its poetry, literature and song, would bind together all Muslims of the subcontinent. However, this was not the case. Most chose to settle in Sindh where they found themselves confronted by issues of ethnicity and identity which prevented their successful integration with the indigenous population of their new homeland. Unable either to assimilate or become invisible, they came into conflict with all the other communities and in doing so lost their competitive edge in providing high quality human resources for business management and governance. As they became prey to power politics, any efficacy they possessed in determining the course of events in their adopted country was lost. This book of memoirs and comment provides an insightful social analysis of a community who, even today, sixty years after Partition, still identify themselves as mohajirs (migrants).
About the Author / Editor
Brigadier Abdul Rahman Siddiqi, writer, editor, and publisher, has devoted much of his life to an in-depth study of military history and analysis of civil-military relations in Third World countries, especially Pakistan, and is acknowledged as an authoritative analyst of the problems of peace and war. He has travelled widely to take part in seminars, and regularly lectures at armed forces institutions and centres of academic excellence. Besides work on defence studies and political thought he has contributed short stories to eminent literary journals and some of his stories have been translated into English. His published works in English include The Military in Pakistan; Image and Reality, and East Pakistanthe Endgame: An Onlookers Journal.
