7 - The politics of merchant networks

Summary

Sind merchants often liked to present themselves as apolitical, and, as a rule, they did not take much interest in politics, either at home or abroad. But running international trading and financial networks entailed political costs which could be high and, to face that problem, even ‘apolitical’ merchants had to organize themselves so as to become relatively efficient political operators. One of the major dilemmas Sind merchants confronted was the nature of their relationship to the British Empire. After 1843, they became de facto British subjects, and, in 1858, following the queen's proclamation, they were legally recognized as such, and therefore entitled to the protection of the British crown wherever they travelled. Being British subjects was however not necessarily the undiluted blessing it was often thought to be. For Shikarpuris in particular, there was a price to pay in Central Asia, especially after the region fell under the dominance of Britain's imperial arch-rival, Russia. Managing the British connection in widely contrasting contexts so as to maximize its advantages and minimize its costs became an essential survival skill for the Sind merchants. On the whole, the Sindworkies were more successful at it than the Shikarpuris. In the process, they evolved political skills which allowed them to gradually emancipate themselves from too exclusive a dependence on the British connection.

The British connection: instrumentalizing Empire?

The merchants of pre-colonial Sind had close links to various groups of indigenous rulers.