THE GREAT MUHAJIR MASSACRE OF 1965
August 14, 2013 · by MQM History · in Ayub Khan era. ·
[This is the first article in a series of MQM background history from 1778 to 1978 - please read "About" first]
Most Pakistanis, and every Muhajir, will be familiar with the infamous “Operation Cleanup”. This was a brutal state sponsored attack on the Karachi Muhajirs in the early 1990s, both under Nawaz Sharif (1992) and then Benazir Bhutto (1993-4). Touted as an operation against the MQM, Pakistan security forces killed thousands of Muhajirs and caused enormous damage. This terrible event had a precedent in 1965 (on a much smaller scale), when Gohar Ayub (son of military dictator Ayub Khan) launched a pre-meditated attack on Karachi’s Muhajirs after the 1965 election. The 1965 massacre was carried out not by the armed forces, but by Karachi Pathans, who were firm supporters of Ayub Khan.
Gohar Ayub with his father and President Eisenhower of the USA
Fatima Jinnah had dared to oppose Ayub Khan, in a farcical 1965 election with only 80,000 handpicked voters. Despite Ayub’s victory, the sheer scale of Fatima Jinnah’s popular support meant that Ayub’s honeymoon period was definitely over.
The Muhajirs of Karachi were at the forefront of opposition to Ayub. After the election, Ayub Khan decided to take bloody revenge on the Muhajirs. Gohar Ayub (son of the dictator) organised a victory parade in Karachi with thousands of Karachi Pathans. After the parade, Gohar Ayub’s Pathans descended on Muhajir areas to teach them a severe lesson on behalf of their Master, Ayub. More than 30 Muhajirs were killed (an enormous death toll in those pre-Taliban days), and hundreds of Muhajirs left homeless after their homes were burnt to ashes. This was the first government sponsored massacre of Muhajirs, and it was a key event in the road to the creation of MQM (originally APMSO) in 1978.
I shall examine the 1965 elections in more detail another time. For the purpose of this article, here’s some background information. The 1965 election was the first national leadership election in Pakistan’s history. Ayub Khan (military dictator) had been in power since 1958. After growing discontent, Ayub finally decided to hold an election so he could legitimise his rule. However, Ayub wanted to ensure that he would win the election. Therefore, Ayub appointed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto as Minister for Basic Democracies in January 1960 (amongst other Ministerial positions). Bhutto devised a predictably crooked and anti-democratic system for Ayub, named “Basic Democracy”.
Under this system, 80,000 voters (Basic Democrats) would be “selected” by local voters across Pakistan. These 80,000 voters would then vote in a new election for the Presidency. The end result was that Ayub only had to control and manage these 80,000 voters, rather than appeal to millions of faceless voters. Voting was held in scret, with results monitored down to Tehsil (Sub-sub-district level) of which there are several thousand in Pakistan. It thus was quite straightforward for Ayub to assess which tehsils had supported him. For those who supported him, more benefits were provided to the tehsil, as well as to the Basic Democrats personally. By contrast, Fatima Jinnah wished to remove this fundamentally anti-democratic system of “Basic Democracy”, which meant the Basic Democrats themselves would lose their positions.
The 80,000 Basic Democrats were heavily in favour of Dictator Ayub
Although Ayub Khan won the election by wide margin in West Pakistan (Sindh, Punjab, NWFP and Balochistan), he won only narrowly in East Pakistan (20,720-18,280). Karachi was the only place Ayub lost (1,049-837). Ayub had been used to governing Pakistan as an overlord – he was booed and heckled for 5 minutes at a rally in Karachi which must have humiliated him. Fatima Jinnah’s election campaign (with mass rallies in East Pakistan) had revealed deep opposition to Ayub there.
With this background, Ayub was determined to crush the main source of opposition, the Muhajirs of Karachi. It was for this reason that Ayub asked his son, Gohar Ayub, to organise a victory parade in Karachi. There is no record of any such victory parade held anywhere else in Pakistan. To an outside observer, it would seem most bizarre that the location Ayub Khan decided to hold a victory parade was the only place in Pakistan where he lost the vote.
The victory parade was held on January 5th. Given that the election results were announced on January 3rd 1965, it seems that this was a very rapidly organised parade.
Gohar Ayub, then a 28-year old business tycoon who had amassed a fortune after leaving the Army (serving as ADC to his own father), rounded up thousands of his Pathan supporters for the victory parade. Pathans, armed with guns, knives and other weapons, headed into central Karachi (Federal Area) in crammed buses and taxis. After stabbing ordinary passers-by, they then looted Muhajir businesses. Two groups of Pathans then moved to Laluketh and Gujjar Nallah (Liaquatabad) areas, where they proceeded to loot more businesses, attack passers-by, and set homes on fire. Many Muhajirs were trapped in their homes and burnt alive. Some were even killed by Police firing.
To all observers, it was clear that the Karachi victory parade could only have been held on the instigation of Ayub Khan. No-one in Ayub’s group would move a finger without his approval, let alone hold a provocative rally. Once this is established, it can be seen that the specific objective of this rally was to attack the Muhajirs, and the order came right from the top.
As this article observes, “Police were slow to intervene, and the Army, which was brought in that night, took no strong measures”.
However, the Karachi massacre had been noted by the world media. Therefore, Ayub Khan decided to organise a sham Inquiry into the Riots. He appointed Malik Amir Mohammed Khan (otherwise known as the Nawab of Kalabagh) to head this inquiry.
It should be noted that Kalabagh (not really a Nawab) and General Wajid Ali Burki (Imran Khan’s uncle/khalu) were the 2 right hand men of Ayub Khan. Their 3 houses were even built next to each other in Islamabad. Kalabagh (and Burki) must have been part of the decision to teach the Muhajirs a lesson. Also, Gohar Ayub must have been like a nephew to Kalabagh – after all, he was his boss’ son! To add even greater insult to injury, another member of the 3-person committee to investigate the Pathan massacre was the Commissioner of Dera Ismail Khan (a Pathan town in the north of Pakistan).
Therefore, with the announcement of this inquiry it became even clearer to Muhajirs that the full force of the Pakistan government and armed forces was stacked against them.
We should be grateful to a presumably long forgotten Mr Shamsuddin , who was courageous enough to file a legal complaint against Gohar Ayub (and his cousin Ashraf Khan) for instigating the massacre. Needless to say, Gohar Ayub was not punished.
The Great Muhajir Massacre of 1965 was a clear statement to Karachi Muhajirs from the Pakistan Dictator Establishment (Government and Army). Muhajirs were largely excluded from power by a Punjabi-dominated establishment, buttressed by violent and almost entirely illiterate Pathan foot soldiers. West Pakistan was governed as “One Unit” (ie Province) from Lahore. The capital of Pakistan had recently been shifted from Karachi to Islamabad (northern Punjab).
The massacre was meant to teach Muhajirs to accept Ayub’s hegemony, rather than try to stir up the East Pakistanis against Ayub. Although the massacre was explained as an unexpected by-product from the victory parade, it was obvious to observers that the massacre had occurred through a government decision (ie decision of Ayub personally).
In case of Muhajir misbehaviour, the Establishment would use its supporters (in this case Pathans) to attack the Muhajirs whilst Police/Army did little to intervene. This trend would grow in the following decades, as the Establishment decided to bring in millions more Pathans into Karachi for precisely the same reason.
Figures of 30 dead, a few hundred injured and hundreds homeless were enormous figures in Pakistan then (although sadly not anymore). The 1965 Muhajir Massacre was a key event in defining Muhajir grievances, and it would have been a fresh memory in 1978 when All-Pakistan Muhajir Students Organisation (precursor to MQM) was founded.
P.S. On a slight side note, to be examined in more detail later, please consider this: Imran Khan was 12-years old in January 1965. Lt-Gen Wajid Ali Burki (Ayub’s closest right hand man and Minister for Health) was Imran’s uncle/khalu (married to Imran’s mother’s sister). Burki’s house in Islamabad was built next to Ayub’s. It is far from unfathomable to assume that
Imran had met Ayub and Gohar several times. Which side do you think Imran was supporting in 1965, Uncle Ayub or Muhajir Fatima Jinnah? Was Imran cheering after Uncle Gohar’s Karachi massacre or in mourning at the atrocity?
anyone who lives in karachi knows who exactly is the don there, just like the antics that MQM pulled in the 2013 elections..dont try make other see them as peaceful lol
