Sindh and beyond
Monday, November 16, 2009
Peer Sa’een is Peer Sa’een. He is not here to serve us. We vote for him and will keep doing so, as it is our duty.
Vaderas, the de facto rulers of Interior Sindh, are generally untouchable. Nobody is there to challenge their licence to rule. As there is no other option but to woo voters to get elected, come every election season they appear for a little while and then vanish until the next polls.
Not being accountable to their voters, these landlords enjoy a status no less than that of a deity. It was after a visit to Nawab Shah and other far-flung areas of Interior Sindh, I realised that the vaderas are ruling the roost in 2009 as imperiously as their forefathers did centuries ago. The status quo is and will remain. Nobody knows until when.
The poverty-laced but hospitable Sindhis do not even think of questioning the deeds of their Sa’eens. The poor folks do so not because they are illiterate or penniless but rather because it is their tradition. To question the Pir Sa’een is considered no less than a sin; even the outsiders are not allowed to do so. “Peer Sa’een is Peer Sa’een. He is not here to serve us. We vote for him and will keep doing so, as it is our duty,” is the rule these people live by and are easily angered by queries on this matter.
posted @ 1:15 PM,
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