TEN PHASE HISTORY OF INDO PAK MUSLIMS
BY
MAJOR AGHA H AMIN (RETIRED)
I find analysis of the Indo Muslim history by singling out extremism or Ahmadis or Mullahs as superficial and a classic case of losing oneslf in trees rather than seeing the whole wood or mosaic of many woods from a classic vantage point.
I hold the view that much of responsibility of the present ongoing Muslim extremism with the so called educated and feudal classes of Indo Pak Muslims.
PHASE ONE
MUSLIMS ATTACK INDIA AND FINALLY SUBJUGATE MOST OF IT 711 AD TO 1600
Muslims attacks on India start in 711 by Arabs.A foothold is established in Sindh and South Punjab then known as Multan.
Muslim attacks under Turks start from around 1000 AD first major attacker being Mahmud of Ghazni and a Muslim kingdom being established in Lahore and later at Delhi by Ghauri general Aibak in 1206.
Expansion and conquest of India by Tughlaqs ,various Delhi Sultans and Mughals till 1605 by Akbar.
Consolidation of Mughal Empire by Jahangir and Shahjahan.
PHASE TWO
Muslim Primacy is challenged 1670-1737
The first serious challenge to Muslim primacy came in person of Sivaji in 1670.Sivaji established a successful blue print of military success against Muslim military power long before Indira Gandhis so called epic triumph in 1971 in a situation in which the odds were far higher against him than in 1971.
Without doubt the real reason of the decline of Mughal Empire was Sivajis and his successors guerrilla wars from 1670 to 1737 when the Marathas raided suburbs of Delhi.
Between 1737 and 1761 the Marathas dominated the Muslim political centre of Delhi and after 1770 till 1803 it was the Marathas who controlled Delhi and the Muslim primacy in India after 1770 had ceased to exist.
The Muslims of Delhi were however saved by the private army of English East India Company in 1803 , as were the Muslims of Punjab and Frontier in 1845 and 1849.
PHASE THREE
The Muslims re-discover Islam 1761 to 1857
as their supremacy is challenged and India is conquered by English East India Company
While Aurangzebs enforcement of Islam was act of a monarch , Maratha occupation of Delhi and Sikh occupation of Punjab and Frontier did produce a significant Islamic political reaction in intellectual terms as signified by Shah Waliullah and Syed Ahmad Barelvis Jihad Movement.
Although Syed Ahmad failed in mortal terms he established a blue print of Holy War , since then replicated in various forms.
PHASE FOUR
The Muslim centred 1857 Rebellion is defeated and Muslim Elites are faced with the European system of democracy and competitive examinations and their re-discovery of Islam as a political weapon -1858-1940
Faced with a system of European education , and competitive examinations the Indo Pak Muslim elite under Syed Ahmad Khan re-discovered Islam.They lobbied for job quotas successfully on communal basis although Syed Ahmad dismissed many Islamic concepts like Miraj etc.
Using Islam as a tool of class interests the Muslim elite lobbied for a separate political entity which came to be known as separate electorate based on votes according to religious divisions,Muslims voting for Muslims and Hindus voting for Hindus.
The British found the Muslims a useful tool in their Roman policy of Divide et Impera.
PHASE FIVE
The Muslim Elite devise a geographical slogan known as Pakistan to achieve a position of unfair advantage in which division of India would eliminate non Muslims from a new Muslim state
Till 1940 the Muslims had no clear slogan although the British top bureaucrats notably O Dwyer had already given the concept of an autonomous Pakistan like Muslim province in North west India in 1930s.
At Lahore in 1940 the Muslim solution to the Indian British Hindu political problem was devised as Pakistan.
The Congress had already annoyed the British with non cooperation in the war effort in 1939 and was punished by the British by adopting a favourable view towards a possible division of India.
PHASE FIVE
PAKISTAN IS CREATED AND THE WEST WING MUSLIM ELITE STRUGGLES TO SIDELINE THE MAJORITY EAST WING MUSLIMS FROM POLITICAL SUPREMACY BY VIRTUE OF HAVING A PREPONDERANT POSISTION IN THE ARMY ,INDUSTRY AND CIVIL SERVICE-1947-56
The Muslim elite thanks to division of India gained an unfair advantage in Industry by occupying the business vacuum created by departure of Hindus , Memons and other Gujrati castes and Chinioti Punjabis in the forefront.
These in league with the majority West wing bureaucrats manoeuvred to create unfair monopolies known as 21 families etc.
The West Pakistani politicians used the mili.tary and civil service and threats of dissolution of provincial assembly into making the East Pakistani Bengalis their 55 % majority into surrender to a 50 % parity level in 1956
PHASE SIX
PAKISTAN REDUCED TO A WEST WING DOMINATED STATE AND A PUNJAB DOMINATED STATE BY ONE UNIT AND 1956 CONSTITUTION WITH THE SAME STATUS CARRIED FORWARD BY IMPOSTION OF MARTIAL LAW IN 1958 LASTING TILL 1969
The West Wing politicians used an unfair majority in military and civil service into making the Bengalis surrender their majority in poulation into a parity.This was not seen as sufficient and still fearing a progressive government the West Wing majority army imposed martial law in 1958.After 1958 the East Wing was literally reduced to a colony by the West Wing.
PHASE SEVEN
THE BENGALIS DISCOVER THAT THEY WERE FOOLED BY THE UP AND PUNJAB DOMINATED MUSLIM ELITE IN NAME OF RELIGION FROM 1906 TILL 1969 AND DECIDE TO SECEDE
The East Pakistani Bengalis realised soon after 1947 that they would not be allowed a political voice.This feeling intensified after 1969 Martial law was parity in votes was replaced by actual representation as per population.
The result was the 1971 Crisis as a result of which the country called Pakistan was divided into Pakistan and Bangladesh.
PHASE EIGHT
AN ATTEMPT TO REFORM THE SOCIETY WITH MIXING SOCIALISM AND POPULISM WITH ISLAM
ZA Bhutto
a great leader attempted reform by nationalisation of industry and land reforms.He was misled by characters like Hafeez Pirzada who influenced him into declaring Ahmadis non Muslims.
His progressive regime was sabotaged by an unwilling military and civil service class from within and international sabotage by US who was angryb with him because of his role in the oil embargo of Arabs and his attempts to pursue a military nuclear programme
PHASE NINE
ISLAM IS RE-DISCOVERED AS A POLITICAL TOOL 1977-2001
As a reaction of ZA Bhuttos political reforms the urban classes in Lahore,Karachi and Pakistan reacted to create a psuedo religious centrist alliance known as PNA demanding an Islamic system known as Nizam e Mustafa.
The US aided this political movement.
The Afghan leftist coup of 1978 brought in the USSR and the USA also picked Islam as a useful tool of politics and state craft.
Pakistan was Islamised to suit the military junta of Zia then acting as a political vassal of USA and Saudi Arabia in the Soviet Afghan war.
The school syllabus was reformed and Islamic ideas of Jihad projected a propaganda tool.
After the USSR withdrawal the same Islamic card was used like a chewing gum by Pakistans military in Kashmir and post 1989 Afghan civil war.
PHASE TEN
After 9/11 Pakistans military rulers decided to abandon ideology at least outwardly.
The result was Pakistani civil war between Islamic Extremists and the Pakistani state which continues till to date.
CONCLUSIONS
Islam was used as a political tool by Muslim elites to achieve their class interests all along from 1858b till 1901.
This inadvertently and without a design created Islamic extremism in Pakistan.While Muslim elites were fooling Muslim masses in order to achieve class advantages the Muslim common man actually started believing that Pakistan is an Islamic ideological state.This however was not the aim of the Muslim elite.
Jihad was picked as a useful tool by the Pakistani military for institutional aims.When under US pressure this contradiction was exposed Pakistan became witness of a civil war.
Islamic Extremism as witnessed today is result of misuse of Islam as a political tool by Muslim elite and educated classes.The Islamic extremists did not produce this situation but were produced as a result of this promiscuous mixing of political opportunism with religion.
The Pakistani elite classes including the so called secular PPP used religion as a tool to get political mileage , most notorious of this effort being the constitutional second ammendment declaring Ahmadis as non Muslims in 1974.The direct result of this is the present Ahmadi massacres in Lahore.
The Pakistani military and all politicians shamelessly used Islam as a political tool by embarking on a full timer so called Jihad in Afghanistan,Kashmir ect.This includes all Pakistani political and military regimes from 1977 till 2001 including Benazir Bhutto.
The present political and military crisis in Pakistan is a direct result of misuse of religion as a cheap political slogan by Pakistans so called most educated Military and Political Classes.
The hard reality is that so called Islamic extremists have a large number of sympathisers in Pakistan and are not a small minority as many in Pakistan would like the world to believe.
The final result of this ongoing crisis may be Pakistans Balkanisation in the next few years.
--
Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." --
Albert Einstein !!!
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-AFGHANISTAN
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Pakistan-Army-Journal-The-Citadel
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21952758/1971-India-Pakistan-War
http://www.scribd.com/doc/25171703/BOOK-REVIEWS-BY-AGHA-H-AMIN
--
Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." --
Albert Einstein !!!
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-AFGHANISTAN
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals
http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Pakistan-Army-Journal-The-Citadel
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21952758/1971-India-Pakistan-War
http://www.scribd.com/doc/25171703/BOOK-REVIEWS-BY-AGHA-H-AMIN
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