KARACHI: A seminar on the history of marginalised classes in South Asia organisaed by the department of social sciences at the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (Szabist) on Thursday examined centuries-old traditions and caste systems in our society and culture.

Prof Dr Sarah Ansari of the department of history at Royal Holloway University of London, in her talk on ‘Differentiated citizenship in South Asia’, said that the under-representation of marginalised communities was nothing new and had been seen in many parts of the world. “People, even indigenous people, have been discriminated against and dispossessed of their ancestral lands. Poverty too has contributed to their being marginalised,” she said.

In relation to women, she pointed out how they still struggled for equal rights despite contributing so much to the freedom struggle before partition. “And after 1947 they were looking to be in the government which wasn’t and isn’t that easy as it is for the men,” she said.

‘Even indigenous people have been discriminated against and dispossessed of their ancestral lands’

She reminded that even Pakistan’s Constitution was not giving equal rights and differentiating. “The Constitution of Pakistan itself differentiates when it says that the state will be headed by a Muslim,” she said.

Looking at what has been going on in UP and Sindh from a common lens, which was also part of her research for her forthcoming book, she said that she was not comparing the two but taking the differentiated forms of citizenship into context. “Cross border tensions also play a role in minorities being differentiated and marginalised,” she said while talking about the big Hindu population in Sindh.

Lack of education

Renowned historian Dr Mubarak Ali, joining in the discussion through Skype, spoke about the ‘Marginalised people of Sindh’ and said that the biggest issue there was the lack of education. “Because of the lack of education people don’t get higher-paying jobs and thus no position in society. Hence they are considered barbarians and uncivilised and looked down upon,” he said.

As an example, he mentioned the Sheedis who came to settle in the Makran coast from Zanzibar via Muscat and tribes such as the Kohlis from Rajasthan. “They are all agriculturists and when they head to cities, they are discriminated against,” he said, also bringing up the jogis and snake charmers. “Since snake charming is not liked and is not earning them a livelihood, they depend on charity for their existence as they live like nomads,” he said. He also spoke about the Dalit community who are the poorest of the poor and have no social or cultural standing.

“With education not extended to them they will all stay where they are and not be able to move up in society or improve their low class statuses,” he said.

Finally, Dr Khizar Ansari, also from Royal Holloway University of London, shared his in-depth research on the life of ‘Maulana Barkatullah Bhopali’s Transnationalisation, Pan-Islamisation, Colonism and Radical Politics’.

About Maulana Barkatullah, he said that he felt that the history written from the perspective of the elite was not the real narrative. So he searched for the little bits that he could find written from the perspective of the marginalised people such as women, peasants and other working classes. “Although there was nothing written about then in a significant way, he could, however, read between the lines from archives,” he said, adding that he was a person in history who had been involved in thinking about the marginalised people to push them into bringing about revolutions.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2019