Competitions for Resources

Partition's Evacuee Property and the Sustenance of Corruption in Pakistan

Dados Bibliográficos

ID3649839
AutoresIlyas Chattha (0000-0001-8840-412X, University of Southampton, autor correspondente)
Ano2012
Volume46
Fascículo5
Páginas1182-1211
Data de publicação2012-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoModern Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099
EditoraCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0026749x12000170
OpenAlexW2110544940
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas12
Referências citadas23

This paper explores the part that the redistribution of evacuee property-the property abandoned by departing Hindus and Sikhs during the mass migrations after Partition-played in the institutionalization of corruption in Pakistan. By drawing on hitherto unexplored sources, including Pakistan's Rehabilitation Department papers, local police files and court records, it highlights the schemes of illegal appropriation, misappropriation, and paints a wholly convincing portrait of the scramble for millions of rupees worth of abandoned property in the towns and countryside of West Punjab. It shows how politicians, bureaucrats, powerful local notables and enterprising refugee groups grabbed properties, mainly by bribing officers charged with allocating them to incoming refugees, or by utilizing their personal contacts. The paper argues that the fierce competition for resources and temptations for evacuee property encouraged the emergence of a 'corruption' discourse which not only contributed to an atmosphere that was detrimental to democratic consolidation in the early years of Pakistan's history, but also justified later military intervention. This not only adds to the empirical knowledge of Partition and its legacies, but also makes a significant contribution towards our understanding of the transitional state in Pakistan

Abandonment (legal · Appropriation · Consolidation (business · Democracy · Economics · Misappropriation · Partition (number theory · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sustenance · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · South Asian Studies and Conflicts

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