The Twilight of the Waderas
In the Ayub era, many new ideas and institutions were introduced in rural Sind. Population planning, the Village Aid Programme, agricultural extension services, telecommunications, attempts at road building, hand-pumps, agricultural development banks, etc. were promoted. However, the population was not mobilised, nor was any attempt made to raise its level of awareness. The result was that only those aspects of these programmes which suited the feudals were adopted and the others discarded. Thus, budget allocations for roads and schools were frequently allowed to lapse and large loans from the ADBP misused.
Yet these programmes had an impact on the sociology of the rural areas. A large number of children from the feudal families went to schools and universities in Karachi, Lahore and Hyderabad. Travelling became more acceptable, and the more enterprising among the peasants sought jobs in the expanding line departments and government rest houses. Many went to Karachi to work in mills, and came into contact with trade union movements. The 1965 Pakistan-India war brought about the transistor revolution, and for many village people the world became a smaller place. Feudalism, with the tyranny of its barter economy, remained intact, but the rural population became aware of a larger world outside its perimeters.
But it was only with the advent of the Pakistan People’s Party and the political movement led by Zulfikar All Bhutto between 1967 and 1971 that the foundation for a major change in the rural areas of Sind was laid. Attempts to consolidate it politically were also made at this time.
Before Mr. Bhutto unleashed his rhetoric on the situation in Sind, the wadera was the ‘father and protector’ and the haris were his ‘children.’ By the time he had finished his first tour of the province, the wadera had become the ‘zalim’ and the hari the ‘mazlum.’ Previously, the hari was not supposed to have any rights; now he was told that they would be given to him, and that there was no law, divine or man-made, that could prevent this happening. A large number of newly dubbed zalims joined the People’s Party, and in their strongholds and from their platforms, radical slogans were raised. A major psychological change occurred in the rural population; it is doubtful if it could have been so sudden or so complete, without the presence of a large number of feudals in the ranks of the PPP.
After Mr. Bhutto came to power major development projects were undertaken in Sind. Roads and, telecommunications systems were built and the villagers worked for cash wages on these projects. Along with the roads came the Suzuki revolution: the outreach of the small mandi towns increased and, as a result, their size and affluence also increased. Easy access to agricultural loans, mechanised agriculture, and a whole infrastructure was required to cater to the maintenance and operation of tractors, trailers and Suzukis. The supply of electricity expanded, and in the changed socio-political climate, cotton ginning and rice husking units were put up, even in the villages, providing jobs to the peasantry.
Education also expanded and with the founding of new colleges and schools, an increasing number of villagers became doctors and engineers. The hectic development activity of the seventies accommodated them. In addition, job opportunities, so long denied to the people of rural Sind, became more accessible, and in the process, another avenue of interaction between the urban and rural areas became possible.
Branches of banks and insurance companies were established in even the remotest areas, and local people, patronised by their MPAs or MNAs, were encouraged to man them. Agricultural extension services expanded, the use of fertilisers and pesticides became common and savings increased. The power of the vote had been demonstrated in 1971, and the feudal realised that if he were to win again, he had to be a part of this process of change.
It was because of these developments that the Sindhi middle class expanded and became a political force. Bankers, traders, transporters, tractor lords, factory owners, and the proletariat that served them were no longer the dependants of the feudal system, and it was natural for them to establish direct links with the rural population. So the barter economy died, and as a result a major change took place in class relations in Sind, a change that would also redefine the wadera-administration alliance.
These socio-economic changes in Sind spelt death for the feudal system. There were instances of ‘haris’ fighting eviction and succeeding. There were cases of haq-i-shifa filed by peasants against their landlords. The custom of touching the feet of ‘superiors,’ common in pre-Bhutto days, declined. Peasants sat together and discussed not only politics in general, but also whether they should vote for their landlord or not. Village artisans migrated to the cities and the hereditary occupational structure gave way to the ‘shagirdi’ system. Traditional village entertainers, like Jogis and Langas were replaced by TV and transistor radios, and they, in their turn, became agriculturists and labourers. In some cases, clansmen ‘topped paying the yearly tax to their tribal chief, and young men openly questioned the supernatural power of their pins. Although the areas around the larger cities and the highways of Sind had changed only slowly over a long period of time, its vast hinterland was suddenly torpedoed into the twentieth-century during the Bhutto era. Such colossal and sudden changes are bound to create friction. In the Bhutto period, this friction was absorbed by two factors: firstly, that as the change was new, its long-term implications were not really understood by those affected by it, and secondly, that the feudals who were in power were supervising this change and thought that by supporting it, even with reservations, they could continue to enjoy political power. Both these factors disappeared with the coup of 1977, which brought Gen. Ziaul Haq to power and put the country under martial law.
