A Brief History of Migrations - 1
By Dr Basheer Ahmed Khan
Garden Grove, CA
I thought of reviewing the history of migration in brief at this time because migration is a major issue. It is rooted in past history and current economic climate affecting the political dynamic of our world and vitiating the racial, ethnic and religious climate in every part of the globe. In our attempt to establish a New World Order based on a democratic system in the world, which was rooted in a dictatorial system, we have destroyed the old order and brought millions of refugees and migrants at the borders of America and Europe. The New World Order is a far cry and the world is a victim of rivalry between countries and people who are competing with one another to establish their world view on the world and in the words of Gen Colin Powell, we broke it and we own it now.
History of mankind is history of migration. It started with Adam and Eve and is continuing today. This migration has been undertaken for different reasons. Adam and Eve were forced to leave the Garden of Eden after eating from the “Forbidden Tree”. God did not want to spoil His garden with the filth which Adam and his progeny would create as a consequence of this eating. He created a whole world for Adam and his progeny and put them there with the advice to use it sensibly and preserve it or destroy it by ignoring the teachings of prophets against greed. It is unfortunate that the progeny of Adam is not only spoiling His world but also destroying it. As the five land masses given to him were not enough man has encroached on the seven seas. We see giant whales dead and alive coming to our shores to protest the onslaught of man against their species by polluting their habitat. Poor nature lovers who love the sea and the surf are sometimes their victims. The economic brutes that are responsible for this pollution of seas care less for nature, ecology or human lives.
Ever since the arrival of Adam and Eve on earth, their progeny has been constantly on the move, even though they have evolved from nomads to urbanites. Some believe that Adam and Eve were dropped in Africa from where their progeny spread all over the world changing the color of the skin and the traits of behavior dictated by the vagaries of the land to which they moved. Some believe that Adam and Eve were dropped in the Arabian Peninsula where their progeny lived till the Floods of Noah. When the arc of Noah landed on the earth, the progeny of the three children of Noah - Sam, Ham and Japheth, which are now recognized as Caucasian, colored and Turkic race inhabited the different parts of the then known land to acquire their specific physical and racial traits. It is believed that Red Indians moved from Mongolia to America when Alaska was still connected to Siberia. Sabaeans seems to have moved from Yemen to the Jordan valley when Sheba gave her country to Solomon after falling in love with him and his religion. Aryans are reported to have moved from Central Asia to India.
Abraham AS went into self-imposed exile from Mesopotamia to the Promised Land after refusing to accept idols carved by his uncle and father as God. He did not have much problem in getting asylum in the Promised Land because it was ruled by God and Alexander the Great had not gone there yet. Joseph AS moved from the Promised Land to Egypt as a result of sibling rivalry and later got all his estranged brothers and their families to Egypt. Children of Israel lived their happily for 500 years when they suffered the first genocide (male infanticide). Moses “liberated” them and took them to wander in Sinai for 40 years as the land promised to them by God was occupied by Philistines during their absence for 500 years and they did not have the means to fight and take it back.
The uncertainty looming on the migrants of modern times therefor has a parallel in ancient history as it is being created by those who have their roots in this old consciousness.
Then there was migration brought about by the colonizers. Africans were brought to Americas and South Asians were sent to Burma, Malaysia, South Africa, and Caribbean islands to improve the economic potential of the colonized lands and to consolidate the hold of colonizers on it. People who changed these countries from real jungles to concrete jungle through their sweat and blood are now alienated by the locals after the colonizers left these lands granting them independence.
Another form of migration was the result of punishment to the dangerous criminal elements from the civilized nations of Europe and India. European criminals were banished to Australia and Indian criminals to Andaman and Nicobar in the hope of keeping them separated from the civilized world by huge oceans. Even though Andaman and Nicobar remains a part of India, Australia became an Independent nation of British Commonwealth welcoming economic migrants from all over the world and putting others in the camps of Papua New Guinea.
Russian Czar transferred Chechens from Chechnya to Siberia after an unsuccessful revolt by (Imam) Shamil against the czars to liberate Chechnya. USSR allowed them back to Chechnya after the Red Revolution. When the Red Revolution lost to Capitalist enterprise dismantling the USSR, Gen Dudayev, with his ambition of becoming the Emir of Chechnya, fanned the smoldering fire of freedom. Even though Dudayev was a general of the Red Army he did not understand that Chechnya being part of the Russian Federation will not be permitted to secede like the other states of the USSR. Gen. Dudayev was killed by a Russian missile which detected his location from a signal from his cell phone. His death handed over the revolution to less experienced and more radical leaders. Gen Dudayev did not become Emir but he hastened the amalgamation of Russia in the emerging Capitalist Enterprise. The rest is painful history for Chechens, Russians and the world. The desire of Chechens to be free and Dudayev to be its leader made the Chechens refugees for a second time; Most of them remained in their own land and some migrated to Central Asia, Syria, Jordan and even America to bring about the tragedy of the Boston Marathon.
Then there was mass migration by political divisions. Indians in an attempt to find a safe living place beyond the bitterness of history divided their country and millions of Hindus and Muslims migrated to the land of their choice in the hope of living peacefully. They have fought three wars so far for this peaceful life and are still at each other’s throat. The last of these migrants who are called Bihari Muslims are dying slowly in what is now Bangladesh as persona non grata. The funds given by Saudi Arabia to PPP Government to settle them in the Kingdom after the 1971 War were used to move some Pakistanis to take care of holy places and the Hajj pilgrims.
Muslims who were loyal to Bahadur Shah Zafar migrated to Burma when he was exiled there to spend the rest of his life after the British Empire deposed him from his throne. They lived there as Rohingya Muslims. The repatriation of Rohingyas to Bangladesh after the recent atrocities is to make sure that they die in erstwhile Greater India which the Mughals had created and the British Empire had revived so that they don’t repeat this couplet of Bahadur Shah Zafar which he wrote as a deposed and dispossessed King.
Kithna Hai Bud Naseeb Zafar
Dafn Kay Liye
Do Guz Zameen Bhi Na Mili
Kooye Yar May.
To those who are managing the destinies of the world and its people Bangladesh is a part of erstwhile India and the settlement of these people there is a restoration of historical realities. Bangladesh is protesting their prolonged stay sensing this possibility. All the stakeholders in the game are sure that the excessive rainfall in the region due to climate change will end the story of Rohingyas sooner or later. In the meantime, some people will make a lot of money on their rehabilitation and also gain the sympathy of the kind-hearted people.
While partition of India was on religious ground most other countries underwent political divisions because of the peace treaties resulting from wars. Division of the Arabian Peninsula into several small kingdoms and sheikhdoms by Britain and France; division of Europe, Koreas and Far East after the world wars was a result of this. As a result, we see people of all these broken nations are happily settled in America and Europe. Now they find it difficult to absorb and manage more of them coming to their shores and land in the rapidly destabilizing and uncertain world.
Bosnians and Kosovars also had their share of migration recently. Ethnic feelings in multiracial Yugoslavia were kept under check by Gen Tito through constitutional measures and army discipline. These differences exploded with vengeance after Gen Tito’s death. Ethnic Croat and Serb leaders declared independence, Izetbegovic a prominent leader of Bosnian Muslims, also wanted to be King Suleiman the second of the Balkan Muslims. Bosnia is an “independent” country today after years of bloody fight with neighboring Croats and Serbians. Thanks to America (see my article in Pakistan Link, Aug 28, 2013). But many Bosnian migrants with scars of this war, which some call ethnic cleansing and others genocide, now live in many parts of the world. With the division of erstwhile Yugoslavia, the last bastion of communism was dismantled and the reins of power in the world were handed over to the Capitalist Enterprise. (To be continued)
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