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TWENTY TWO FAMILIES & MEMONS
 
 

 

The Soviet writer Sergy Levin describes the contribution of Memon Community in more detail in the Book “Soviet Scholars View South Asia” Instead of describing the contribution of the Memon community in the economic development of Pakistan in my own words, I will take liberty to quote below from this soviet writer extensively.

 

            After the formation of an independent of Pakistan in 1947, tens of thousands of Memons emigrated to that new state from India, and other countries, and transferred their capital there.

 

            At present Pakistan has become the chief center of entrepreneurial activity for the Memon bourgeoisie. In the 1960s about 150,000 Memons, or approximately half of the community, were living there. True, the Memons were then only 0.16% of the population of Pakistan. But the proportion of them among the Pakistan bourgeoisie, especially the upper bourgeoisie, was much higher. Every fourth private factory or plant in Pakistan belonged to the Memons. The Memon leaders formed the most powerful group in the Pakistan monopolistic bourgeoisie. Specially, the nucleus of the latter, as Pakistan regards it, consists of 22 monopolistic families, seven of which are Memons. These are the commercial , industrial and financial magnates widely known in Pakistan and beyond its borders, the Adamjees, Dawoods, Bawanys, Karims, Dadas, Haroons, and the Rangoonwala-Bengali group.

 

            The Adamjees are known above all as the “Jute kings”. Before Bangladesh was formed, they owned the Adamjee Jute Mills, the largest jute company, not only in Pakistan, but also in the world. By 1971, 35,000 workers were employed in its mills in East Bengal. At the same time the Adamjees also controlled about 20 other major industrial, commercial, and financial companies, and numerous enterprises which they operated in various spheres of the Pakistan economy.

 

            More than 50,000 people have been employed in enterprises directly controlled by the Adamjees alone, and the assets of these enterprises reached atleast 2.25 billion rupees in 1966-1967. The Adamjees occupied third place in amount of assets among the monopolistic groups in Pakistan.

 

            The Dawood concern has been characterized by exceptionally high growth rate during the last few years. Its owners, in contrast to the Adamjees, were not large-scale industrialists when Pakistan was formed.

            Before the events of 1971-72, there were 20 companies in the Dawood concern. The majority of them were among the largest in Pakistan. The basic Industrial companies of the concern were: the Dawood Cotton Mills Mills, Burewala Textile Mills and the Lawrencepur Woolen and Textile Mills in West Pakistan, the Karnaphuli Paper Mills, the Karanphuli Rayon and Chemical (production of artificial fibers and other synthetic materials) in East Bengal; the Dawood Mines for coal extraction; and the Dawood Jute Mills (they began to construct a large mill in East Pakistan). In cooperation with the American Hercules firm, the Dawoods have organized a company, Dawood Hercules Chemicals, which is building a huge artificial fertilizer  plant near Lahore. In addition, the Dawood concern founded petroleum and steamship companies a few years ago, and the former had already succeeded in developing trade in oil and petroleum products throughout Pakistan by 1971.

 

            The philanthropic “Dawood Foundation” is also essentially a major financial enterprise. By the end of 1968, the assets of this fund were over 50 million rupees and were chiefly in invested in the securities of various companies. (The Dawood College of Engineering and Dawood Public School were established by this Foundation besides many other education institutions in West and then East Pakistan)

 

            In addition to the seven families forming part of 22 families, there should be included in the monopolistic leadership of the Pakistan bourgeoisie about another dozen families or groups of major Memon industrialists who have continued to serve as partners in Pakistani and foreign enterprises, and have themselves occupied prominent positions in some industry. These are: the Dadabhoys, 17 companies in Pakistan and one in India; the Jaffer Brothers, 16 companies in Pakistan, two in England, one in India, and enterprises in Kuwait and Arabian principalities on the shores of the Red Sea ; Haji Ahmed Haji Hasham (tobacco and sugar industry); Husein Ibrahim (textile, sugar industry, tube-rolling mills) ; the Pakolawala; and others.  

 

This is the story of past. Although today many of our community members have moved to professions and started occupying senior positions in national and multinational companies as senior executives, we still have our share in business and industry. Three of large cement plants, the largest urea fertilizer company, many large textile spinning, weaving and finishing mills, sugar plants and score of other industries are still owned and run by Memon businessmen.