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A – Introduction:
In the year 1971, the Researcher
had newly arrived in Quetta, the capital of the Pakistani
province of Baluchistan, to take up his cultural appointment
with an enthusiasm and curiosity characteristic of every new
comer to this country.
For everyone who
visits Pakistan for the first time, the languages spoken in
the country and the distinctive features of the inhabitants
and their culture have a special attraction particularly for a
man like the present writer who is intensely interested in
sociological and anthropological studies.
Centuries-old rich
tradition of music inherited by the people of the region,
their social habits and customs, particularly their sense of
hospitality which is characteristically oriental, and many
other points of similarity with the culture of the
Researcher’s country, Iran, gave him the assurance of a happy
stay in Pakistan. What was particularly impressing was the
fact that Persian language was understood and respected in a
large part of the province.
Within a few days of
his arrival in Pakistan, the Researcher found that there are
certain people in Pakistan, and particularly in an around
Quetta, who speak Persian as their mother-tongue. There is,
for example, a village called Kerani, situated about 10
kilometres to the south-west of Quetta, where the land is well
cultivated and full of vineyards. About 300 families inhabit
this village and all of them speak Persian fluently. They
believe that they had migrated about eight centuries back from
Chust lying in the present-day Afghanistan which
constituted a region of the Greater Khorasan in ancient
days. Despite the fact that the people in the neighbourhood
speak Pushto, Baluchi and Urdu, the inhabitants of this
village have not forgotten their original mother-tongue,
Persian, and have jealously preserved it.
Groups of these
people, known as Chustis, are settled in Mastung,
Dhadar near Kachhi and in Nawabshah in
Sindh.
Another large group
which speaks Persian is known as the Hazara tribe. It lives in
Quetta city. The features of the members of this tribe are
quite distinguishable from those of other groups living in the
neighbourhood. They are, as will be discussed in detail later,
dispersed all over Pakistan. However, their main concentration
in Pakistan is in the city of Quetta.
To a new-comer their
features, even at the first encounter, are strikingly
Mongolian. Everybody, and particularly a sociologist or an
anthropologist, is compelled to note their peculiarities and
ask himself who they are, where do they come from, why do they
speak Persian and to what race do they belong and whether they
are migrants to this region or are the sons of the soil who
have learnt to speak Persian. The fact that they have been
living together with people speaking other languages is
fascinating and cannot escape notice.
At first, the
intention was to write a monograph on the Persian-speaking
Keranis, but soon the Researcher changed his mind and
decided to study the Hazara tribe which had migrated to this
region six centuries ago when the Mongol conquest began. This
tribe has undergone many social and cultural changes and has
changed its places of habitation.
The Hazaras live in
the south-eastern part of Quetta in contiguous localities
bearing the names of Syed abad, Nichari,
Hyderabad, Marriabad, Hajiabad, Malibagh,
McConagi Road, Hussianabad, Shari’e Alamdar,
Tilgodam Naoabad, Quiedabad, Nasirabad
and Chhawni. Accurate and latest demographic statistics
are not at hand, as the number of Hazaras is daily on the
increase, partly by local births and partly by immigration
from Afghanistan of individuals belonging to Hazara families.
On the basis of the statistics, the population of the Hazaras
in Quetta city is 40,000 persons and 10,000 families.
(Pakistan Census, 1971) At the present moment in 1975, the
approximate population may be estimated to range between
50,000 to 60,000 persons in the Quetta city region.
The Hazaras who arrive
as immigrants come mostly in search of employment and other
means of livelihood, and, in the majority of cases, take abode
with their relatives or friends, or find accommodation rented
from the local Hazaras.
The Researcher had the
honour and the opportunity of having long, frequent and
detailed discussions with the late Sardar Ishaq who was the
Chief of the Hazaras of Quetta. Sardar Ishaq was the brother
of General Mohammad Musa, for some time the governor of West
Pakistan, and a prominent personality well-known to all the
people of Pakistan. Sardar Ishaq himself hailed form the
Jaghori tribe of the Hazaras. The Researcher remained in
frequent touch with him throughout the period from 1971 to
16th March, 1973. Much of the information that was obtained
from him is also contained in a questionnaire completed by the
late Sardar Ishaq and is of an authentic nature. In the course
of the discussions with him, the Researcher was informed that,
according to the firm belief of Sardar Ishaq, extremely rarely
will one find the instance of a Baluch, Pathan or a Punjabi
family living in the locality having households of Hazaras.
Sardar Ishaq used to confess that he could not cite a single
such example. However, as a safe approximation by way of an
exception, cases of non-Hazara families having bought property
next to a Hazara family and living there may, at the maximum,
be placed at 10 per cent of the total Hazara population,
particularly at the present juncture when in the Marriabad
zone a number of houses have been constructed by Baluchis
and Pathans.
The late Sardar Ishaq
was an outstanding personage who was perfectly qualified by
his knowledge, station in life and experience to express such
opinions because he was universally referred to as the Sardar
of the Hazaras and possessed the gift of personally knowing
each one of the Hazaras of Quetta. All the newly arrived
Hazara immigrants had perforce to present themselves before
him in order to be able to obtain an Identity Card for
themselves from the Government of Pakistan.
These discussions and
the Researcher’s own close observations have yielded the
general and broad conclusion that the Hazaras mostly live and
confine their social affiliations within their own people and
exercise the maximum of care in safeguarding their own
peculiar social set-up. It also means that they are
self-contained and exclusive in their relations and
organization. This aspect further created added interest to
study them and trace out factors forcing them to such
segregation and self-containment.
The greater majority
of the Hazaras, at the time of the commencement of their
migration to Quetta, were inducted into the Indian Army under
the British who initially recruited them in the 124th and
126th Baluch Regiments and later in the years 1904 to 1906,
Field Marshall Sir Claude W. Jacob, created a new force named
the Hazara Pioneers (Khan, 1971:5-6). This regiment was
disbanded in 1932. After this event, most of the Hazaras
sought livelihood in the various crafts and trade, and even
after the end of the British rule in 1947, up to the present
time, they continue to engage in crafts and trade. As they
know the Persian language well, they developed good trade
relations with Iran which they frequently visited, Iran being
their nearest neighbour. Their just, truthful and clean
dealings both in the crafts and in trade are the reasons for
doing a flourishing and prosperous business. This is the
Researcher’s own conclusion that he has reached after very
careful, minute and scrutinizing observations both at Quetta
and the people with whom they do business in Karachi. The
Researcher has observed that such is the extent of confidence
reposed in the Hazara traders and craftsmen that even the non-Hazara
Pakistanis give preference to having dealings with them. These
are the salient features of the Hazaras which every new-comer,
after a short stay, will realize.
For the Researcher,
who for three compete years remained one of their friends and
freely mixed with them, it became all the more appropriate and
incumbent that he should avail of the opportunity to record
some of the facts related to social life of Hazara people on
the basis of what he closely observed and on the authority of
what his experience with the Hazaras yielded and to go on
further to study the people and their customs and values more
closely and empirically so as to present a complete picture of
their culture and social life.
This thesis is an
attempt to know the Hazara people through scientific methods
and to analyse and assess the social and cultural changes
among them in the course of their life in Pakistan after
migration.
B - Brief Remarks on the
Hazara Cultural Pattern:
The first generation of the
migrant Hazaras from Afghanistan had come from their ancestral
home in Hazarajat in central Afghanistan, a region that is
mountainous and underdeveloped. Miss Bacon considers that
“Broadfoot’s description of one region is applicable to many
parts of the Hazarajat”. She quotes Broadfoot’s exact words
thus: “I never saw anything wilder or more desolate. A steep
footpath now descends the face of the hill, and ends in the
valley of the Jarmatu, a ravine between barren hills
with a few yards of soil at the bottom”. (Bacon; 1958:8).
These first generation immigrants came to Quetta for
protection and means of livelihood in the armed and public
services, as well as in petty trade, under the British regime.
The British had raised a battalion consisting entirely of the
Hazaras, known as the Hazara Pioneers. This regiment was
formed in 1903-04 and disbanded in 1932.
Since independence and
the emergence of Pakistan in 1947, the Hazaras all become
citizens of a more acceptable Islamic State. The Quetta
Division which was part of the former British Baluchistan, has
inherited British institutions and a more or less cosmopolitan
character like that of the other provinces of Pakistan. The
Hazaras have, like the other Pakistanis, found countrywide
acceptance and opportunities. In this context, it is pertinent
to cite an official confirmation of their current status as
follows:
“I am directed to refer… and to
say that the Government of Pakistan agree that the Afghan
Tribes, as detailed below, which are at present treated as
semi-indigenous tribes of Pakistan… may be allowed to enjoy
all facilities as are available to other indigenous/local
tribes: 1. Hazara, 2. Durranis, 3. Yousufzais, 4. Ghilzais”.
(Khan, 1971: 18)
The Hazaras in
Baluchistan, thus, found a political and socio-economic
climate quite congenial and in many ways better than which had
prompted them to leave their ancestral Hazarajat in
Afghanistan. In support of the conditions that prompted them
to leave, Miss Bacon says:
“In the late 1880’s and early
1890’s many of the Hazara tribes revolted against Abdur Rahman,
the first ruler to bring the country of Afghanistan under a
centralized Afghan government. Consequent on this unsuccessful
revolt, number of Hazaras fled to Quetta in Baluchistan and to
the area around Meshed in north-eastern Iran.” (Bacon, 1858:5)
It therefore needs no further
evidence to show that the Hazaras who migrated to Quetta have
found a sense of social security and participation in a more
democratic milieu. Their interests are safeguarded and, as a
backward tribe, they are afforded preferential treatment at
par with the other local tribes by the country’s government.
In as much as the
Hazaras settled down together as a distinct ethnic, cultural
and linguistic group in Quetta, they have in the course of
time obtained a tacit recognition as such. Now a large Hazara
colony stretches at the foot of the Murdar Mountain and
lies in the east of Quetta. The inhabitants of this colony
form an approximate population of 10,000 families and belong
to the Shia minority in Quetta, the population of which is
mostly Sunnis, as in Afghanistan. The Hazaras speak Persian in
the midst of mostly Pushto, Baluchi, Brahui, Urdu and Punjabi
groups. They have their own religious or sectarian and
cultural institutions, including Imambaras. These facts
are based on Researcher’s own personal observations by being
closely associated with the Hazaras during his stay of three
years in Quetta.
A further observation
of the Researcher relates to the City of Quetta. Quetta
presents a culture of its own. It cannot be said to be a
purely Baluchi culture or a purely Pashtoon culture; or, for
that matter, a Brahui or a Punjabi culture or the culture of
Urdu-speaking people. As concluded by the Researcher on the
strength of his prolonged and minute observations, the culture
of Quetta city, viewed as an entity, presents itself as an
amalgam of these heterogeneous cultural elements of the city’s
population. It is said that an inhabitant of this city,
irrespective of his original cultural affinity, is easily
recognizable throughout Pakistan. The lingua franca of this
population, known as the Quetta slang—Urdu spoken with a
peculiar and typical Quetta accent—is the most obvious
distinguishing characteristic. Inspite of a general tendency
to homogeneity of the whole urban population, observed as an
entity, the members of these various sub-groupings, in certain
areas of social life, unmistakably appear to maintain a
separate identity of their own, and, in this respect, the
Hazaras are the most conspicuous of them all. For a casual
observer, too, the members of the Hazara community, apart from
their physical apparent, ethnic traits and culture
differences, embody in their day to day social life a
typicality which may be a projection of their own cultural
heritage. Doubtless, some of the educated Hazara males do wear
modern dresses. It is natural that they certainly mix with and
interact with members of the other communities and their
children likewise attend the common educational institutions.
Inspite of all this, the Hazara womenfolk and the majority of
the males wear their own type of dress which distinguishes and
gives them an identity.
It is a striking fact
that social strife and internecine quarrels among the Hazaras,
if at all such tensions fur face up, are resolved and
adjudicated by themselves, since the Civil Courts have yet to
register a case between two Hazaras. All this indicates the
existence of a well-knit social organization, with a strong
“we” feeling, an integrated in-group making the fullest use of
the community pressures of cohesion. Any act of an individual
member which might earn a bad name for the whole community is
strongly disapproved. The people living in Quetta assert that
they have never witnessed a Hazara beggar asking for alms,
despite the general poverty that prevails.
At least three
generations of Hazaras have lived in Pakistan. The first
generation Hazaras had the social and cultural traits which
were highlighted by a careful observer and recorder of Hazara
people—Miss Elizabeth Bacon. She says:
“Basic to Hazara Mongol society is
the joint family—an extended patrilineal family group which
owns property in common. Such a family usually consists of a
man and wife, their unmarried children, and their married sons
with their wives and children…When the father dies; the eldest
son becomes head of the family unit… Although residence is
invariably patrilocal and man, whether father or elder brother
or husband, is in almost all cases the head of the family,
this does not mean that the woman has a low status in the
home. She does not go out into the world of men. She does not
smile or laugh when talking to men; indeed ‘to laugh with a
woman’—other than an immediate member of the family—is the
greatest Hazara crime. If a strange man appears, she covers
the lower parts of her face with her veil, and, although she
will answer practical questions in a straight forward way, she
will not carry on a conversation unless her husband or the
husband of some other woman in the gathering is present…The
writer’s impression that the Hazara woman is not a nonentity
is corroborated by Mr. Khuda Nazar Qambaree. He writes that
‘daughters and other women, though not regarded equal to sons
and men, are not despised.’ It is usual for men to address
their daughters or other little girls with the affectionate
term Madar-i-Khana, ‘mother of the house’…Thus the
woman not only has full control over her own household but
exerts considerable influence over her husband in his dealings
with the outside world…The members of the Hazara family are
bound together by the strongest ties of mutual obligations and
responsibilities. The family as a whole is responsible for the
actions of one of its members and, conversely, may collect
compensation for injury to a member”.
(Bacon, 1958:10-12)
Among the Hazaras, as
has been observed by the Researcher personally by frequently
visiting and being invited to several Hazara families,
endogamy appears to be the common practice. Inter-family
marriages with members of the other communities are very rare.
The association of Hazaras as co-partners in business with
members of the other communities is also not very common.
As also observed by
the Researcher, the Hazaras, besides finding employment in
civil services, mostly in the lower rungs, are largely
contributing a major portion of the labour force in the
Baluchistan mining industry. The only other big group in
mining labour force next to the Hazaras are the Pathans from
the Swat region of the North-western Frontier Province. At all
mining sites, a few dwellings occupied by Hazara labourers can
always be seen. Probably, their attachment to the mountains
when they first settled down in Quetta at the foot of the
Murdar Mountain and their wholehearted engagement in the
mining industry may be traced back to their earlier days of
life in Afghanistan where they lived a very hard life in the
mountainous regions of that country.
In the course of their
settlement for ninety years in Quetta, after their migration
to Baluchistan, it is expected that through the natural
process of the diffusion of cultures they should have lost
some of their cultural traits and should, on the other hand,
have received some impact of the other sub-cultures. Yet
knowledge about the changes and many of the processes within
their own cultural setting hindering or encouraging the
overall assimilation is not available and needs to be analysed
through research.
Apparently evidences
of assimilation are almost nonexistent. There is however a
good deal of information showing that the process of
accommodation has been occurring. The acquisition of the
ability to speak Urdu or Pashto or Baluchi can be termed as an
attempt to adjust to the new culture so that the process of
social change is also in operation in some areas of their
social life. Probably, this acquisition of a new language is
also a concerted effort to accommodate them to the new social
milieu.
Majority of them can
speak Urdu and Pashto and are thus capable of communicating
with people and becoming aware of the cultures of others.
Considering that the exposure to the cultures of others is one
of the primary prerequisites for a social change, we could say
that a very feeble and faint current in the direction of
assimilation has begun. The really important area full of rich
results is the process of accommodation which, we must
emphasize, is in full swing. The inward, cohesive pull of the
Hazaras will delay assimilation for a very very long time; but
accommodation is functioning smoothly ever since they arrived
in Quetta 90 years ago.
Since the Hazara
culture, in terms of the broader religious, linguistic,
traditional and vocational affinities with non-Hazaras is not
so disparate, no basic difficulty is expected to be
encountered in their gradually merging into the formation of
the main culture of the region. However, in the absence of any
conscious motivation for expediting the process, they remain
still rather isolated from the main social stream. As the
preliminary enquiries reveal, many Hazaras in Quetta do feel
socially secure and mentally adjusted to the new ecological
culture setting, even when they often tend to confuse their
own backwardness in non-specific terms of Baluchistan’s
general under-development.
C - Statement of the
Research Problem:
It is proper that the problem as
it presents itself be stated enumerating its various
constituents with suitable titles and thus having attained a
degree of clarity, proceed in quest of the answers for
isolating the facts of continuity and change in culture of
this tribe. The following issues emerge in studying the
Hazaras and their culture:
1. In the first place,
from what we observe of the Hazara people settled in Quetta,
the capital of Baluchistan Province, the striking fact that
confronts us is that these people, inspite of a lapse of time
of over 90 years since they migrated and took up abode here,
continue to lead an independent and exclusive life within a
segregated and special circle of their own and do not have
much association and deep social interaction with the Baluch
people, although they work shoulder to shoulder with the
latter and enjoy all the privileges common to the people of
Baluchistan.
A research for the
factors behind this lack of association or at least to arrive
at some measure of change that has occurred in this period of
90 years is of much interest and attention and is a worthwhile
problem to be investigated.
An attempt has also
been made for determining whether the Hazara people still feel
that they are strangers and distinct from others or consider
themselves as belonging to and as being part of the people.
Another related issue
is whether or not they have barriers or freedom in the matter
of social intercourse, while contacting in the political and
economic field and in the matter of family and married life?
This aspect of the problem deserves attention. It is
interesting to determine in what manner the people freshly
migrated and in a new environment intermingle with the rest of
the population. We would thus also discover what the original
culture of such people was and what is it now, and to what
extent has the intermixture of the Hazara culture with the
culture of Baluchistan milieu taken place so that the
corresponding positive and negative aspects of such
intermixture could be subjected to a scientific treatment.
2. Race and History:
The second issue relates to what
race the Hazaras belong and what is their history.
To know a tribe, it is
necessary in the first place to know its past history and past
culture. Although sociological research has primarily to do
with acquiring a knowledge of the social values, customs and
habits as obtaining at the time of the research, and their
growth from former times, it nevertheless has to be admitted
that for a comprehension and an analytical examination of the
socio-cultural change of social groups, necessity is always
felt for extensive information on the past history of such a
group. Such information is of invaluable assistance to the
research student for a better and more accurate grasp over the
whole evolutionary process of social and cultural changes
occurring either through usual processes or accompanied by
domination and violence. Although the problem of race can, in
a limited way, bring out the point where the developing
process of the tribe was snapped, it has, however, been seen
that no race completely inviolate and isolated has survived
long. It is quite probable that the cultural unity that
distinguishes a social group may, in truth, be unity resulting
from the fusion and inter-relation from several social groups
or tribes. For example, we may cite Minorsky in the
Encyclopaedia of Islam: “During the Safavide period, a
large number of Turkic and Gorgi tribes were
exiled to the Bakhtarian country”. It was a forced
migration and had its own pattern of intermixing. Such
intermingling does not occur these days. There are doubtless
many moot points and obscurities on the question of the racial
origins of the Hazara tribe also and it will be our effort to
trace their racial origin and the factors promoting or
retarding the intermingling with other races based on
historical evidence.
3. Language:
The third problem is concerned
with their original language and the changes there in arising
form intermingling with other people.
In this part, several
points will need clarification and questions thus arising
answered. Why is Persian their language? To what extent it has
maintained purity? What words of other languages have found
their way into it and are the current usage? Why have these
changes come about? What has been the extent of modification
during the period of 90 years since their migration to
Pakistan? How far have they influenced the language and idiom
of their neighbouring peoples and in what measure have the
latter been receptive to these influences?
4. Reasons for Migration:
As the fourth question, it also
becomes pertinent to know the causes that were responsible for
their migration.
As a matter of
principle, the question has to be pursued why the Hazaras
forsook their original homeland and moved to the new
environments around Khorasan (Iran) and then the
Hazarajat country of Afghanistan and finally, why some of them
left the Hazarajat region and settled in the Baluchistan
province of Pakistan.
The determination of
these factors is one of the objectives of this research.
5. Image of the other Residents about
Hazaras:
The fifth question is as to what
are the characteristics of the behaviour, the attitudes and
views of the people of Baluchistan and other parts of Pakistan
about Hazaras.
After isolating and
identifying the causes of their migration, it has to be
ascertained whether or not during the period since their
migration, they have been accepted into their midst by the
local people, namely the Pakistanis. In both cases, the
recourse to analytical examination is perforce necessary to
answer the questions: Why no, and Why yes?
6. Changes in the Culture:
The sixth question is: From the
point of view of living environment or cultural ecology after
migration, what changes in the mode of life of these people
have manifested themselves and in what manner have they tried
to get absorbed in the new environment in order to build up
their own appropriate social life for the purpose of work,
livelihood and family life.
To this end, in
addition to the Hazaras of Quetta, the Researcher has made
contacts with those of Hyderabad, Karachi, Mastung, Parachinar,
Loralai and by directly questioning them has completed a
questionnaire which will find place in the answers to these
main questions.
7. Social Structure of Hazaras:
The seventh question is as to
whether the Hazaras have a Sardari System.
The subject of the
Sardari leadership system and the tribal order is of a
fundamental nature and in the study of tribes meriting serious
attention. For similar reasons, a cognate problem, in my view,
about the Hazaras, is to find out the nature of the
institution of chieftainship among Hazara tribes before
migration and its characteristics and the changes, if any, in
these characteristics after migration and at the present time.
D - Objectives of the
Study:
1. Importance of the Study:
Identification of such changes and
the forces which retard or encourage accommodation and the
assimilation processes among the Hazaras is a subject worthy
of scholarly attention and would contribute to the existing
body of sociological knowledge. Needless to say that no study
of this kind focusing attention on and exclusively dealing
with the Hazara group in Baluchistan was ever conducted
before.
2. Objectives of the Study:
a) An assessment of the
old cultural and social life of the Hazaras, particularly that
which they led before migration to Pakistan,
b) An assessment of the
present social and cultural traits of the Hazaras in
Baluchistan,
c) Determining the changes
that have occurred in their socio-cultural life after their
settlement at Quetta,
d) Determination of the
major socio-cultural traits of the communities other than the
Hazaras,
e) Pinpointing the changes
that have occurred in Hazaras culture in terms of the values
of other groups,
f) Identification of
those areas of their social and cultural life which first
underwent change,
g) Assessment of those
socio-cultural needs which Hazaras were able to meet
independently and in which they were self-sufficient,
resulting in their isolation,
h) Assessment of those
socio-cultural needs for which the Hazara community had to be
dependent upon and cooperate with the members of the other
communities and created a trend to intermix with other
residents of Quetta at some level of contacts,
i) The recognition of
those formal frameworks of the Hazara society and the network
of kinship and neighbourhood ties which help them develop
their relations around a single leader and finally the
alignment of these leaders and groups into a larger political
system (Barth, 1959: )
E - Focus of the Study:
The study primarily deals with the
Hazara people living in Quetta. The Hazaras dispersed at
places other than Quetta would, if the exigencies of the
inquiry demand for more accurate analysis, will also be
included with the object of the assessment of any variations
in their accommodation or assimilation processes in Pakistan.
Further, the study would confine itself to the socio-cultural
life of these people, though their economic, political and
religious institutions would also be dealt with as factors
affecting their social and cultural accommodation or
assimilation to the social life and the alien people around
them who are culturally different from them.
1. Propositions:
Ten (10) propositions have been
formulated constituting the nucleus from which to proceed:
a) The Hazara people being
a cohesive ethnic group have largely retained their original
culture after their migration to Quetta.
b) The Hazaras are largely
self-contained and socially isolated rather than assimilated
to the local people.
c) Like other compact
ethnic groups, cohesion among the Hazaras has been maintained
because of strong tribal identity, strict adherence to
religious values and ideals and general endogamous tendencies.
d) New environments have
brought about some modifications in the occupations of Hazaras
after their migration to the new land.
e) Since migration to
Pakistan the physical environments are different, this
difference in environment has brought about minor changes
among the Hazaras to adjust themselves to changed
environments.
f) The older generations
of the Hazaras inspite of their social isolation from the rest
of the country’s population have given latitude and are less
meddlesome towards their sons’ choice of an occupation.
g) The Hazaras are
strictly religious.
h) As there are no
artificial barriers like apartheid in South Africa or the
forced segregation of ethnic groups like the Indian
Reservations in the U.S.A., the Hazaras are benefiting from
the general spread of literacy and education in the country.
i) The old tribal customs
are losing hold among the third generation of the Hazaras.
j) The Hazaras have
avoided conflict with the followers of the religion of the
majority population or other religions.
2. Hypotheses:
According to the thinking of the
Researcher, the operational definition of a hypothesis, in its
simplest form would be the terse statement of a fact which
must be proved either empirically or deductively. Such facts
collected and combined may also be called a thesis or a
theory. It is implicit in such a definition of a fact
requiring proof that it should consist of certain variables
which affect and influence the other. Some time a ‘cause’ and
an ‘effect’ relationship is established thereby. The
Researcher however does not hold this position. He admits, as
is done by McIver, that it is very difficult to determine
causes and effects in social relations. Merton says:
“Much of what is described in
text-books as sociological theory consists of general
orientations towards substantive materials. Such orientations
involve broad postulates which indicate types of variables
which are somehow to be taken into account rather than
specifying determinate relationships between particular
variables. Indispensable though these variations are, they
provide only the broadest framework for empirical enquiry.
This is the case with Durkheim’s generic hypothesis which
holds that the ‘determining cause of a social fact should be
sought among the social facts preceding it…’ The chief
function of these orientations is to provide a general context
for inquiry; they facilitate the process of arriving at
determinate hypotheses.” (Merton, 1959:87-88)
In a more profound and
philosophical way, Habermas says: “In the empirical analytical
sciences the transcendental frame of reference determining the
meaning of the validity of possible statements lays down rules
both for the construction of theories and for their critical
testing (Uberprufung). Hypothetico-deductive systems of
statements which permit the derivation of law like hypotheses
(Gesetzs-hypothesen) with empirical content can be used as
theories. These may be interpreted as statements about the
co-variance of observable events; under given initial
conditions they make predictions possible. Thus empirical
analytical knowledge is predictive knowledge.” (In Emmet and
MacIntyre, 1970:36)
Proof of the
hypotheses involves what is called research. Mere routine
fact-finding or collecting information without any central
guiding concepts is mere survey which is different from
research. In the social sciences, mathematical simplicity and
accuracy of a sure proof of a given theory and the hypothesis
framed under it is, in the very nature of things, impossible.
The behaviour of man is always unstable, as a number of
variables impinge upon it, so that hypotheses involving man’s
behaviour may be an attempt to incorporate co-variances; but,
at the most, they can only be tested from further
observations, and even when proved and validated, possess
varying degrees of probability. The repeated and continued
observations for proving the validity or otherwise of
hypotheses is the hallmark of research. For this purpose, as
wide as possible a definition of research has been given by
Krausz: “It will be taken to mean either any systematic
attempt, whether empirical or theoretical, to uncover
sociological relationships that were previously unknown or any
critical investigations which adds to our knowledge of
society. We will also follow the Heyworth Committee’s
distinction between ‘research’ and ‘fact-finding’ in not
accepting routine or administrative fact-finding as true
research”. (Krausz, 1969:2)
As regards the very
necessity of a hypothesis, the Researcher may, as a divergent
opinion, here cite the oft-quoted P.V. Young: “It should not
be assumed that a study must necessarily proceed from any
hypothesis. Many scientific studies were begun and
successfully carried forward without any particular theory to
prove or disprove”. (Young, 1962:90)
A hypothesis is,
nevertheless, important for guiding scientific investigation,
as it also helps in the suggestion of convincing explanations.
With these central ideas in mind, the Researcher has
incorporated them in the propositions which are tentative
conclusions, showing relationship between the factors involved
and affecting each other. The following hypotheses are
accordingly formulated:
1. The Hazaras have been
and are still largely endogamous.
2. Being endogamous, the
Hazaras are prevented from establishing affinities with non-Hazaras
in Pakistan.
3. The relations of the
Hazaras with non-Hazaras have been generally harmonious in the
past as well as at present.
4. After migration, to
Quetta the majority had to change their occupations.
5. Civil liberties and
civic amenities are fully enjoyed by the Hazaras as citizens
of Pakistan.
6. The present generation
Hazaras are adopting all types of jobs open to a citizen of
Pakistan.
7. Hazara parents of today
are largely not meddlesome in the choice of occupations by
their sons.
8. The trend of
improvement in family income of Hazaras is discernible.
9. The present generation
Hazaras are using more modern devices and amenities than their
fathers and ancestors.
10. The present-day Hazaras
are more literate and educated than their ancestors.
11. Hazara women are
largely doing house-keeping and in leisure time are engaged in
handicrafts.
12. The majority of the
Hazara families consist of 5 to 7 members, and, as compared
with their ancestors, these families are inclined to having
lesser numbers of children but prefer having sons.
13. The hold of religion on
the Hazaras is generally strong; but the present generation
Hazaras are less regular in their religious duties than the
Hazaras of the previous generation.
14. There was more communal
feeling among the Hazaras earlier than today.
15. Actual living in city
and preference of city life have brought about a decline in
the observance of tribal customs and practices.
16. The ancestors of the
Hazaras were more superstitious than are the heads of families
of today.
17. The Sardari system is
being less accepted by the present-day Hazaras than their
ancestors.
18. The Hazaras are less
respectful to the Sardar than were their ancestors.
a. Operational Definitions of the Concepts:
i) Hypothesis No. 1:
Endogamy: Marriage of sons and
daughters within kinship. Endogamous marriages have five
aspects, namely,
-
Marrying of
the mother within the clan,
-
Marrying of
the mother within the tribe,
-
Marrying of
the mother within the family,
-
Marrying of
the head of the family within kinship and,
-
Willingness
to marry off-spring within kinship.
ii) Hypothesis No. 2:
Affinities: are relationships
based on kinship. An extended connotation of this is marital
relations within the tribe in addition to marriages between
the relatives of the spouses. A marriage outside the tribe,
i.e. non-Hazara is establishing affinity with non-Hazaras.
iii) Hypothesis No. 3:
Harmonious: Harmonious relations
of the Hazaras with the non-Hazaras imply lack of friction,
social or religious tension or conflict leading to strained
relations. Harmonious relations in this sense mean peaceful
co-existence with mutual regard and respect for the feelings
and views of one another.
iv) Hypothesis No. 4:
Migration: is the movement of
individuals or families or entire groups from one country to
another either for living a freer life or a more comfortable
life on account of better economic opportunities.
v) Hypothesis No. 5:
The present generation Hazaras are
those Hazara youth born and brought up in the post-migration
environment at Quetta who has attained the age of majority or
are about to attain it and who are capable of engaging in
gainful employment.
vi) Hypothesis No. 6:
Meddlesome: The enforcement by the
parents of their will and decisions on their off-spring, thus
preventing the latter from thinking for themselves and
exercising their own judgment in deciding upon the choice of
an occupation. Not being meddlesome is the opposite behaviour
of allowing the off-spring full latitude in the matter of the
selection of a career.
vii) Hypothesis No. 7:
Modern devices and amenities:
These include all those mechanical and other innovations,
intended for saving labour or simplifying processes for the
benefit of the consumers at large which did not exist, or, if
they existed, they were for the use of the exclusive few who
could afford them, at the beginning of this century. In
addition to devices and amenities for individual use, the
other modern amenities are mostly of a civic character for
collective well-being, like urban electrification, steady
water supply, gas, transport, news media, public health and
education institutions and entertainment establishments.
viii) Hypothesis No. 8:
Handicrafts: Handicrafts, in
contradistinction to machine-made and mass-produced goods, are
those avocations the products of which are mostly made by hand
with the least number of tools by the inmates, especially the
women-folk, of the Hazara homes during their spare time
predominantly for home consumption and to a negligible extent
for sale to provide a source of supplementary income. The
skills for these handicrafts are also acquired in the homes.
ix) Hypothesis No. 9:
Hold of religion: is that force
present in an individual Hazara or collectively in the entire
Hazara society that ensures uniformity of belief and religious
practice and is powerful enough to prevent any laxity or
deviation in religious beliefs and practices of the Hazara
population, so that cohesion and continuity of the Hazara
society are maintained against forces of disintegration and
social change. Previous generation Hazaras are all those
Hazaras who may be bracketed in the age-group of the parents
of the present generation Hazaras.
x) Hypothesis No. 10
Communal feeling: This is a
subjective phenomenon making the individual member of the
Hazara society feel, think and act as if they were a single
body. In the presence of such a feeling, there is more
practical sympathy and help for one another within the group
and a united front in relations with those outside the group.
In sociological terminology, communal feeling is a pronounced
“in-group” attitude.
xi) Hypothesis No. 11
Tribal customs: Tribal customs are
those collective modes of behaviour and conduct, habits,
attitudes, usages and, most important of all, those practices
and observances which are common to all individual members of
the Hazara society. When tribal customs crystallize into
collective ceremonial, social ritual, as in weddings,
festivals and tribal gatherings, they are the tribal
institutions of the group, and, in a more overtly
institutionalized form, they include associations of the
Hazaras.
xii) Hypothesis No. 12
Superstitious: As distinct from
the belief in the tenets of religion, superstitions are those
logical fallacies and irrational beliefs of the Hazara
ancestors under the influence of which they resorted to
practices expected to yield results without any casual
connections, like good and bad omens, charms, etc.
xiii) Hypothesis No. 13
Sardari system: The system of a
sort of local government particularly in the social spheres,
by a single person, formally accepted as the head, with the
consent of the social group, is the Sardari or the tribal
system. In such a system, the Sardar or the tribal chief
endeavours to promote the social welfare of the group by
adjusting personal and family disputes, encouraging
compromises and reconciliations, acting as a court of justice
with binding decisions, giving helpful advice when consulted,
being present in social ceremonies, helping the members of the
group who have difficulties and generally acting as the
acknowledged representative and spokesman of the group with
the government and other outside the group.
xiv) Hypothesis No. 14
Respectful: Special regard due by
reason of prominence as the tribal head. This may be termed
‘respectful’ attitude which is now less than previously.
3. Variables
a) Independent:
i) Being endogamous
ii) Actual living in city
and preference of city life
b) Dependent:
i) The Hazaras are
prevented from establishing affinities with
non- Hazaras in Pakistan.
ii) Have brought about a
decline in the observance of tribal customs and practices.
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