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Memons are finished in Pakistan?
"Memons are finished in Pakistan. They have been wiped out deliberately"
maintained Yusuf Haroon, the top Memon industrialist and first chief minister of
Sindh after independance in 1947, in an interview with the author. He now lives
in New York, in a flat overlooking Central Park and has business interests in the
United States.
" Such a waste, all for nothing", he murmured in an incoherent voice while
talking about the feverish movement for independance of Pakistan.
Haroon was bitter with the Punjabi politicians and rulers starting from the Nawab
of Kalabagh, Zia-ul-Haq to Nawaz Sharif who wielded influence in Pakistan at
different times as absolute monarchs but failed to unite the countary because of
their chauvinism and narrow mindedness. He believed that the seeds of
discontent against the federation were planted in smaller provinces with the
shifting of capital to Islamabad and claimed that immediately after Pakistan was
born and he was appointed chief minister of Sindh, Quaid-e-Azam asked him to
look for a site to shift the capital from Karachi, Liaqat Ali Khan even visited and
favoured a site proposed by him in Baluchistan, about 200 km from Karachi on
the Arabian Coast.
A capital in Baluchistan would have generated employment opportunities for the
native Baluchis and incoming Mohajir population and served Pakistan from many
ethnic problems it was facing today, he argued. He claimed that it was Nawab of
Kalabagh who prevailed over Ayub Khan to shift capital to Islamabad.
Haroon blamed Zia, for boosting Punjab out of proportion and launching a "
systematic discrimination" against Karachi businessmen, Sindh in particular
under which Liscenses, credit and raw material was monopolized by the Punjabi
industrialists.
" Yes, several leading Memon businessmen fled from Pakistan. They were afraid
of the Punjabi domination and possible nationalization", he concluded.
Note: Following is description of Memons by Gustav Papanek in " Interest
Groups and Development":.
The largest community to migrate to Pakistan were Halai Memons from Gujrati
towns of Bantva, Dhoraji, Kutiyana and Vanthali. These Memons were Sunni
Muslims of Hanafi school known for their specialization in the Kirana (spice) and
textile trades. They were extremely cohesive, frugal, hard working, well-defined
into family groups and had an overwhelming commitment to their traditional
occupation of commerce either employees or as self-employed. Only a handful
had left their traditional pursuits to become doctors, lawyers, engineers and civil
servants. Memons had an extremely high sense of community identity, spoke
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