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Vol.I No.3 Rs.2/- March 1992 ''Pakistan is a s·ilken noose round our neck" G.M. Syed · By: Kirat Babani 0 NCE again, for the umpteenth time, Past, Present and Future, publis.hed by refugees, a fruit bearing garden for the the old grand man of Sindh, Ghulam the present writer more than a decade Punjabis ·and a graveyard for the Sindhis." Murtaza Syed, was gagged and de ago in India (because it could not be Again and again he has been tained in his son's residence in Karachi. published in Sindh), G.M. Syed made advocating "a case for Sindhu Desh" It was ironical that the house arrest the following observations : and a book of the same title was came soon after his tumultuous felidta "My fears and apprehensions before incidentally published by the present tion by an unprece writer in India in the dented gathering of year 1985. his followers and Therefore, admirers on his 89th there is a strong birthday on January reason to believe 17. that the political For G.M., as he scenario in Sindh is endearingly called has drastically by his people, there changed to warrant was nothing new or such a panicky surprising in this, action by the since jail has be Pakistani authortties come a 'permanent against the symbol abode' for him after of national forces in the establishment of Sindh. The enor Pakistan. In the his mous success of all tory of liberation the Sindhi nationa struggles of sup list groups, includ pressed people, not G.M. Syed being received at the Bombay Airport, by Sindhi's, when he visited ing the 'Jiye Sindh many have matched India In 1987. The Author Is behind his wheel-chair. Mahaz' of G.M. G.M. Syed's record Syed, in organising of suffering imprisonments and deten the creation of Pakistan have been total hartals every month since Sep tions for over 26 years. How long the confirmed ... The idea of a separate tember last, demanding the release of present confinement is going to last is Muslim Nation is wrong, outmoded, Dr. Qadar Magsi, chairman of the anybody's guess. But this has not mischievous and against the spirit of Progressive Jiye Sindh Mahaz, must deterred him from his mission to achieve Islam. The concept of a Muslim state is have unnerved the Sindh chief minister, freedom, justice and national honour for meaningless, unrealistic and a decep Jam Sadiq Ali. Magsi has been lan his people. tion practised on the ignorant masses. guishing in the infamous Landi jail for The most intriguing point is that in his And for us (Sindhis) it has proved to be long without trial. The nationalist groups reply to felicitations, he uttered, as re a fine silken rope around our neck. The are also demanding the chief minister's ported by the press, nothing very shock time for trial of Sindhi people has come; resignation. ing that should attract the wrath of the we have either to rise to the occasion What is--the genesis of disillusion authorities. He has said more rebellious and show the mettle or be decimated as ment in Sindh? For a better assessment things in the past, such as independence a people and effaced from the face of of the situation we need to peep a little of Sindh and even its affiliation with the earth ... Loyalty to Pakistan will mean, into the past. Sindh was the only pro- India. In his book entitled, Pakistan --Its Sindh will become a fertile land for the Contd. on pg-4 f Sindh's The Timely Warning ... Meeting at Karachi on January 21, 1992, the Central Committee of the Sindh For next more then three hundred 1783). II goes to the credit of Kalhoras that National Front led by Mumtaz Ali Bhutto years the Arab8 ruled Slndh through they reunited and helped Integration of their governors. Gradually they became Slndh, which had been fragmented under passed a resolution stating that the dif weak and lost control over the land end the rule of Arghun end Tarkhan chieftains. ferent nationalities in Pakistan are striv were defeated by a native tribe called They provided a good government to the ing for their historic and national rights Soomras (1032-1360) who were sons of country and comparative peace prevailed. and warned the Government that iftheir the soll -Rajputs converted to Islam. The High mark of this period la the cultural Soomras retained power for another 300 renaluance. Great poet Shah Abdul Latif rights are not conceded, Pakistan would years and then Sammas a tribe of native rose llke a ahlnnlng star on the llterary face another tragedy like the one wit origin, over-throwing the Soomras horizon. "The seal of the capital city of nessed in East Pakistan in 1971. The establlshad their rule (1356-1520). The Thatta developed as large as London Central Committee said that Pakistan is Sammas were also Rajputs, who had having 50,000 houses of which some were embraced Islam. The Samma period has made of stone and martar. The city had 400 a multi-national country and pointed out been characterised as period of peace, schools and 4000 boats and enummerable that the emergence of the Common- · progress and cultural awakening. There llbrarles. II was In the centre of lnterna wealth of Independent States in the Is a brief Interlude of foreign rule over llonal commerce and trade. And now erstwhile USSR showed that a con Slnd by people of Turkish origin from during the Kalhoras the Hindus atter a long Central Asia - the Arghuns and the period of Isolation of centuries, started federation of autonomous states is the Tarkhans. The period extended llHle playing a significant role. Many Hindus only solution to the problems presently over half a century. It was only In the year were appointed as ministers as they were facing Pakistan. It decided to observe 1591 that direct Mughul rule was learned and able administrators. Kalhora established by.Akbar over Slnd, through period was brief but remarkable for many March 23 as "Confederal Day" to high his governor Mirza Jani Baig. lncldently things". light the demand of the Party .for the Akbar was born In Slndh at Umerkote on Atter Kalhoras, Talpura a Baluchl conversion of Pakistan into a Confeder Humayun's sojourn In Slnd, when he tribe, who had helped the Kalhoras against ation. In the meanwhile, leaders of the was hiding and running for sheller and the expeditions of the Mughuls, Persians safety, after being defeated and driven and Afghans worsted them and tookover In Sindh National Front and the Jiye Sindh by Sher Shah Sorl. Rana Blrsal of the year 1783. The Talpurs could not hold Progressive Party led by Dr. Qadir Magsi, Umerkote provided Humayun the for long. They did not prove good rulers have met at Hyderabad, Sindh, and sought for shelter In his fort. Humayun and on the otherhand the British Imperial held discussions to form a joint fell In love with an Arghun girl Hamlda ists were pressing towards north-west for Banu and married her In 1540, to whom their strategic reasons. They tricked the democratic-cum-nationlist alliance in Akbar was born on 15th October 1542. Talpura and created dissent among the Sindh in order to struggle unitedly for THE NATIVE DYNASTIES ASCEND upper echelons of the ruling class to their the achievement of the national rights of In the last years of Aurangzeb, best advantage. The British forces under the Sindhis. Mughul empire started tattering and fall the command of Charles Napier engaged ing. Taking advantage of the situation the Talpurs al Mlanl and Dabo end defeated The "Frontier Post" of Peshawar Kalhoras a people of native dynasty them (1843). The Sindhi forces were lad by Arrest of G.M. Syed Condemned ... overpowered the Mughul appointees Hosh Mohammed a Valliant Commoner, In a statement issued at Lahore, the and established the native rule (1719- who fought leroclously till he breallWd Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has strongly condemned the orders of has stronglycriticised the· Government those who were responsible for anti the Islamabad Government to place of Pakistan for fanning fanaticism in Baloch violence in Quetta on October G.M. Syed, the leaderoftheJiye Sindh Jam mu and Kashmir in order to achieve 1O , 1991. He also alleged that the Balochs Movement, under house arrest under its own selfish purposes. He appealed living in the Loralai and Hamai areas what it described as a discredited Main to the Kashmiris to avoid the path of were being evicted w~hout any compen tenance of Public Order Ordinance for violence and to stop unnecessarily sation and that out of 15,000 workers advocating the break-up of Pakistan to shedding blood to achieve their political employed in the Hub Industrial Estate, create independent Sindhudesh, aspirations. He expressed the view that only 4,000 were Balochs. He also ac Balochistan, Pakhtoonkawa and it should be possible for the Kashmiris to cused the Government of a conspiracy Seraikistan. It also strongly condemned achiev.etheir aspirations of reunification to give Pakistani citizenship to a large the decision of the Government to try of Kashmir without shedding blood. number of Afghan Mujahideen and G.M. Syed and his supporters who gave The #Frontier Post" of Peshawar permanently settle them in Baloch the call for independence before the Balochis Serve Ultimatum ... areas in order to reduce the Balochs to Speedy Trial Courts set up for trying Sardar Akhtar Mengal, the President of a minority in their own homeland. terrorists. It expressed the view that the the Baloch National Movement (BNM), "Dawn" of Karachi action in~iated by the Government against ha~ given a 3-month ultimatum to the Crackdown On Nationalists. .. Sindhi nationalists was unsupportable. Balochistan Government to redress the There has been a major crack-down on "Dawn" of Karachi grievances of the Balochs, failing which activitists of the Jiye Sindh Tehreek. Kashmiris for Reunification ... the BNM would be forcect to take action The Police, the ISi and other intelli Addressing a public meeting at Muzzaf against the Government. He accused gence agencies have rounded up hun farabad in POK, Sardar Shaukat Ali the Government of arresting without dreds of activists and leaders of the Jiye Kashmiri, Secretary General of the reason a large number of workersofthe Sindh Tehreek and the Jiye Sindh Mahaz Jamrnu Kashmir Peoples' National Party, BNM while failing to take action against in different parts of Sindh, following the 2 EP INTO THE PAST Mohammad Langah, the Seraiki ·uggle for National Survival -2 nationalist leader, and other represen Kirat Babani tatives of the national minorities in order to work out a common action last, with the patriotic words on his llpa her, to her own advantage, to attain to programme. "Marveseen-Slnd-na-Deseen" (We wlll die, provlnclal autonomy". Seth Harchandral "Dawn" of Karachi but not give up Slndh). Vlshlndas was Joined by another lop ranking The Rule of Rape ... Slnd was the last Independent nationalist from Slndh, Raia Ghulam In an ed~orial under the heading "Sindh's country, the British conquered In the sub Mohammed Bhurgrl In the cause of Slnd'a long night of terror - torture, arrests, continent In the year 1843 and they autonomous status and both whole-hearted annexed It to the Bombay Presidency tor worked towards that end. rape", the "Newsline", a well-known administrative convenience. First time In The separation of Slnd from Bombay monthly of Karachi has referred to the history Slndh lost Its autonomy and sepa Presidency became a national laaue. Both growing anger and frustration of the rate polltlcal entity. Earlier even If It had from the platform of . the lndlan National Sindhis and their increasing sense of .tonned a part of big empires It had retained Congreaa as well as the Muslim League, the regional autonomy. Sir Charles Napier who demand was voiced from time to time and alienation from the Islamabad Govern over-threw the Talpura was made the first the supporters succeeded In convincing to . ment, and written as follows : "Almost administrator of Slndh and continued 1111 their view point, the leadership of both the like a needle caught in a groove, the 1847. When Charles Napier left, Slndh was major polltlcal parties on this very sensitive . placed under a Commlasloner responsible laaue. The Congreaa Working Committee In cries of Sindh echo again and again in a to the Governor-In-council having his Its meeting on 15th May 1927 placed tha recurring dirge of anguish. But those headquartera In Bolnbay. So Slndh contin following resolution, moved by Pandit who decide the destinies of this country's ued to ba ruled by a British Commissioner, Motllal Nehru, on record: people do not hear, do not see. It is responsible to a person sitting thousand "The proposal that Slndh should ba mlllesaway. separated from the Bombay Presidency and almost as if the rules of law and human URGE FOR AUTONOMY constituted Into a separate province la one decency no longer apply to Sindh. Per But It did not take long tor an urge to which has been already adopted In the haps almost as amazing as the capacity sprout among the people of Slnd to regain constitution of the Congreaa on tha of the human race to inflict pain and status of a separate and autonomous prov principle of redistribution of provinces on ince. It la notable that the first leader of linguistic baala and the committee la of opin suffering on its own kind is the capacity . Sindhi people, who espoused the cause for ion that the proposal may be given effect". of the human kind to endure it. But the Slnd'a regional autonomy was a prominent The movement gathered momentum dividing line between endurance and Hindu Congreaa Leader, Seth Harchendral and ultimately even the Br!tlah conceded breaking point is a dangerously Vlshlndaa, who referred to thla laaue In the and Slnd became a full fledged separate KarachlSeaalonottheCongreaaln 1913as province under tha Government of India Act precarious one. If nothing else, the the Chairman of the reception committee. 1935. Hindus were assured of a fair deal and break-up of this country two decades He set the ball rolling. He opposed vehe welghtage was given to them by providing ago should have taught us that. For, mently tha Idea of dellnklng Slnd from more seats In the Slnd Leglalatlve Assembly Bombay and "marrylng"lt polltlcally to the than the population figures demanded. out when a repressed people rise, it is with province of Punjab. He emphatically said: of 60 seats In the Legislature, Hindus were the collective memory of the crimes "But Slndh has set her face resolutely alloted 22, which was 10% more than tha committed against them. Today, Sindh against all such blandishments and pre population ratio between the two commu fers to continue a part of the Bombay Presi nities. is witnessing yet again the rape of its dency, untlll such time as destiny permits To I» contlnwd people. Innocent men tortured to death, women gang-raped for political decision of the Government to place look for an author who could lend his vengeance, a whole province brutalised G.M. Syed, the Sindhi nationalist leader, name to~ scandalous book about Mrs. by the blood-stained battle for political urx:ter house arrest. In Hyderabad, Sindh, Benazir Bhutto fabricated in the Intelli control. The canvas of Sindh is the Police conducted mid-night raids at gence Bureau. irredeemably stained." the houses of many Sindhi n·ationalist The "Frontier Post" of Peshawar "The News LineH of Karachi leaders. Call For Joint Fight. .. False Case Against Syed ... The HFrontier Posr of Peshawar Leaders of the Sindh National Front, led In a statement issued at Hyderabad, Character Assassination ... by Mumtaz Ali Bhuto, and the Sindh, Bashir Khan Qu~reshi, Vice Meeting at Karachi on January 22, 1992, Pakkhtoonkhwa Oaumi Party have President of the Jiye Sindh Tehreek, the All-Parties Conference (APC), con jointly called upon the Sindhi, Pakhtoon, has strongly condemned the decision sisting of the leaders of the Pakistan Baloch and Seraiki nationalist forces of of the Islamabad Govt. to prosecute Peoples' Party and its political allies, Pakistan to join hands to fight for their Mr. G.M. Syed, the Sindhi nationalist has accused the Pakistan Intelligence fundamental rights. They said that under leader, who has been placed under Bureau of setting up a special cell to present conditions, only a confedera house-arrest at Karachi for advocating malign Mrs. Benazir Bhutto and other tion was suitable for a multi-national' an independent Sindhu Desh, on a prominent ,leaders of the. opposition. country like Pakistan and maintained charge of sedition and asserted that The resolution said that this special cell that the dismemberment of the USSR the Sindhis had every right to speak for of the Intelligence Bureau has been had a direct bearing on conditions in their national rights and that was what orchestrating a campaign of character Pakistan. They agreed that Mumtaz Ali Mr. Syed was doing. He added that assassination and that Hussain Haqqani, Bhuto would contact Sardar Ataullah false cases of sedition and threats of Press Adviser to Prime Minister Nawaz Mengal, the Baloch leader living in exile execution could not deter the Sindhis Sharif, has recently in New Delhi; on in the UK, Nawab Akbar Bugti, former from demanding their rights. behalf of the Intelligence Bureau, to Chief Minister of Balochistan, Taj "Dawn" of Karachi .3 secular Sufi thinker who plunged into control of commerce and trade, govern Contd. from pg-1 the anti-British national movement early ment services and industry. On the other vince in united India which had endorsed in his life. But because of the narrow side, the influx of non-Sindhis in Sindh mindedness of the then Congress leaders has changed the demographic compo the 'Pakistan Resolution' through its in Sindh and their pro-feudal policy on sition of Sindh beyond anyone's imagi legislative Assembly. The simple folks the question of agrarian reforms, he nation. A serious peril stares the Sindhis of Sindh had been fed on the fake hopes broke away from the Congress and in their face--that of becoming a minor and promises that a rosy future awaited joined hands with the communal forces ity in their own homeland. The non them and "paradise" would come on represented by the Muslim League of Sindhi population at the time of Partition earth for them as soon as Pakistan was formed. But soon after the establishment Mahammed Ali Jinnah. Soon he was was only 2 per cent; it shot up to 48 per of Pakistan, the cruel drama began to disenchanted with the rabid communal cent in the 1981 census. unfold before them. The refugees from policies of the League and parted The Jiye Sindh movement has, India started pouring into Sindh and the company with Jinnah much before the assumed new dimensions under the paradise disappeared in thin air. Out birth of Pakistan. He felt suffocated in leadership of G. M. Syed and his radical siders started grabbing as war booty all the company of dyed-in-the-wool com lieutenants. A militant political party has the properties, houses, shops, lands munalists. been launched with mass fronts in the and jobs left over by the Sindhi Hindus, G.M. Syed turned a secular nation working class, peasantry, youth and claiming that they had won Pakistan alist for the new role history assigned to women. A nine-point programme of and were entitled to all the wealth and him. He became the father-figure of the national awakening and political action comforts. They even posed to be supe Jiye Sindh movement and acted as a has been spelt out, consonant with the rior and better Muslims than Sindhi fountain-head of inspiration for the Sindhi national aspirations of the people of Muslims. The dream of the people of masses. He became the main ideo Sindh. Now it is no more a secret. The Sindh was shattered. logue of separate Sindhi nationhood. people are openly talking about the goal Simultaneously, an attack was He knew what mortal risk he was taking of Sindhu Desh. launched against their language and with such a course of political action in G.M. Syed, the main exponent of the culture. Urdu was foisted from above as Pakistan, a country founded on com idea of Sindhu Desh, has given it a clear ,. the national language -- a-1anguage munal bigotry and religious fanaticism. ideological base. He has brilliantly de which did not belong to any of the But the history of the last four decades veloped the idea of a distinct political regions that comprised Pakistan. It came is witness to the fact that he has stood identity of the Sindhi people. He has from outside and pressed its claim to firm, braved cruel pefSecution, and raised it above the emotional plane and replace regional (national) languages, remained unbending in his principles in established with his theoretical percep which were ancient, highly developed spite of threats and inducements of all tion the incontrovertible truth that Sindh and rich in literary and cultural heritage. kinds. was a separate 'Desh' from time imme The power had passed into the hands morial and will remain so in the future. of the "refugees leadership", those who Cell of Slndh ••• With a formidable fund of facts and had come from outside. They did not The slayer will be slain himself, figures, he has proved without doubt s~op at anything. They ordered displace His sword will tremble, that Sindh can remain a viable separate 01 friend in the end, ment of Sindhi language from primary state in the subcontinent with its rich, Who will not answer the call of Sindh? school level and compulsory introduc enviable culture and abundance of nat Who will suffer agony of ingratitude? tion of Urdu in its place. Names of roads, ural and human resources. He has also - Sheikh Ayaz parks, streets, railway stations, etc. were (Rebel Poet of Sindh} stressed that Sindhu Desh will have the changed from Sindhi to Urdu. Deroga freedom to choose its friends. tory references about the people of Sindh, In course of time the 'Jiye Sindh' The authorities in Pakistan, who are their language and culture became movement grew in intensity and attracted moving heaven and earth to instigate common. A few instances of such inde tens of thousands of youth and stu violence and secessionism in Punjab cent and unworthy comments will give dents: who have now become its main and Kashmir, would like the world to the reader an idea of the viciousness of fighting force. They have launched many believe that there is no real threat to its the effort to hurt the honour and senti militant actions to defend the legitimate own unity because, ostensibly, its unity ments of the people of Sindh: is based on Islam. The Jiye Sindh rights of the Sindhi people and vindicate "Sindhis were slaves of Hindus, we their national honour. Their slogan has movement is a fitting answer to this have freed them from that slavery." (a become a national cry, so much so that monumental self-delusion. comment in Jung Urdu daily); "Sindhis the people do not greet each other with By Courtesy - Week End Observer had no knowledge of Islam. We have the usual Salam-o-·Alaikum but utter Bombay. taught it to them" (Maulana Maudoodi); "JiyeSindh. Sada Jiye' (Long live Sindh, "Sindhi culture is that of donkey~cart Sindh forever) when th'ey meet each Printed and Published by B.K. Arun on and camel-cart drivers" (Lia(JJat A~ Khan, other. -- behalf of Sorath Publications from then Prime Minister of Pakistan). - The Punjabi-Mahajir combine has 3141, Adarsh Nagar, Prabhadevi, G.M. Syed, one of the stalwarts of acquired preponderance in the economy Bombay 400 025. And Printed at H.K. sub-continental politics, i_s basically a of Sindh province after having· taken Printers, Bombay, Editor Kirat Babani