Hydraulic Power and Political Order: Canal Colonies and Intermediary Elites in Montgomery (Sahiwal) District

Abstract

This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the nexus amid irrigation structures, colonialism, and social-political change in Montgomery District (now Sahiwal) under the British rule. It claims that the canal colonization was a strategic policy of political engineering, according to which the possession of water and land enabled the formation of intermediate elites, who guaranteed the cooperation of the administration and political stability. Drawing upon Punjab Settlement Reports, District Gazetteers, Canal Colony administrative files and modern historiography, study demonstrates how hydraulic control was translated into political authority. The article based on in-depth case studies of Pakpattan, Shergarh, Okara and Dipalpur demonstrates that canal colonization created a formalized hierarchy of loyalty, dependence, and mediated government that spilled over to late colonial electoral politics. The results are added to larger discussions about the formation of colonial states, agrarian transformation and legacy of intermediary power in South Asia.

Keywords: Hydraulic Power, Political Order, Canals, Colonies, Intermediary Elites, Montgomery