|
The Feudalism in contemporary Pakistan (Urdu: زمینداری نظام ''zamīndāri nizam'') usually refers to the power and influence of large landowning families, particularly through very large estates and in more remote areas.〔Nicholas D. Kristof. ( "Feudalism in Pakistan" )| ''The New York Times''| 1 August 2009| accessed: 7 February 2015〕 The adjective "feudal" in the context of Pakistan has been used to mean "a relatively small group of politically active and powerful landowners".〔 "Feudal attitude" refers to "a combination of arrogance and entitlement". According to the Pakistan Institute of Labor Education and Research (PILER), five per cent of agricultural households in Pakistan own nearly two thirds of Pakistan’s farmland.〔 Large joint families in Pakistan may possess hundreds or even "thousands of acres" of land, while making little or no direct contribution to agricultural production, which is handled by "peasants or tenants who live at subsistence level".〔〔 Landlord power may be based on control over local people through debt bondage passed down "generation after generation",〔 and power over the "distribution of water, fertilisers, tractor permits and agricultural credit", which in turn gives them influence over the "revenue, police and judicial administration" of local government.〔〔 In recent times, particularly "harsh" feudalism has existed in "rural Sind",〔 Baluchistan,〔 "some parts of Southern Punjab".〔 Feudal families influence has extended to national affairs through the government bureaucracy, the Armed Forces and the Pakistani political class.〔 Pakistan's "major political parties" have been called "feudal-oriented", and as of 2007, "more than two-thirds of the National Assembly" (Lower House) and most of the key executive posts in the provinces were held by "feudals", according to scholar Sharif Shuja.〔 Some prominent landed families in Pakistan include the Bhuttos, Zamindars, Jats, Jagirdars, Nawabs, Khans, Nawabzadas, Mansabdars, Arbabs, Makhdooms, and Sardars.〔 Explanations for the power of "feudal" landowning families that has waned in other post-colonial societies such as India and Japan include lack of land reform in Pakistan.〔 ==Criticism and analysis== Critics of feudalism have complained of a "culture of feudal impunity", where local police will refuse to pursue charges against an influential landowning family even when murder or mayhem have been committed;〔 of abuse of power by some landlords who may place enemies in "private prisons" and "enslave" local people through debt bondage;〔 the harming of "progress and prosperity" by feudals who discourage the education of their "subjects" for fear it will weaken feudal power; the giving of "space" to extremists (such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan) who peasants turn to in the search for deliverance from the cruelty of feudal lords;〔 and an agriculture sector made stagnant by absentee landlordism.〔 Other have complained that Pakistan has developed a "fixation" on feudalism (Michael Kugelman);〔 that it has become a scapegoat for Pakistan's problems, frequently denounced but not seriously studied (Eqbal Ahmed); a "favorite boogie of the urban educated elites"; or that it does not exist because South Asia never developed large concentrations of land ownership or a feudal class, and what is called feudal in Pakistan is merely a "rural gentry", who are "junior partners" to those who actually hold power (Haider Nizamai). “Feudalism serves as the whipping boy of Pakistan’s intelligentsia. Yet, to my knowledge not one serious study exists on the nature and extent of feudal power in Pakistan, and none to my knowledge on the hegemony which feudal culture enjoys in this country.” Despite its political influence, feudalism has become so unpopular in public expression and the media that "feudal lords" are denounced even by some from "feudal" families (such as Shehbaz Sharif). In media portrayals, the very popular 1975 Pakistan Television (PTV) series Waris centered around a feudal lord (Chaudhry Hashmat) who rules his fiefdom, "with an iron grip". The Satyajit Ray film ''Jalsaghar'' (‘The Music Room’) featured a nouveau-riche merchant tries to mimic some aspects of the lifestyle of an indebted landlord.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Feudalism in Pakistan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|