Sindh and the un-justice to Sindhi of Pakistan now they inclined to look back to India

Torture Chamber & Gulag in Pakistan.
A colonial mindset was once again reflected in Altaf Hussain’s remarks on Wednesday. There was the usual attitude of looking down upon the people of Sindh who welcomed millions of refugees with open arms in 1947 and offered them shelter and opportunities to prosper. That Altaf Hussain continues to insist on calling the newcomers Mohajirs even after sixty four years is indicative of a continuous bias against integration with the local population. The attitude is reminiscent of the British racism of the colonial era when the inferior ‘natives’ were considered intellectually and culturally backward. The white masters were supposed to bring fruits of civilisation to their uncivilised subjects while maintaining a distance from them. The condescending attitude of the MQM and its sympathisers has naturally alienated the local Sindhis and raised walls instead of breaking them down. The attitude is considered an insulting expression of racial superiority. That the remarks by Altaf should have come at this crucial juncture when Karachi is passing through a bloodbath is highly disturbing. Calling the pre-partition Sindhis the ‘slaves of Hindu Banias’ Altaf ranted, “We have given you independence and a free country.” He then put the rhetorical question, “Which country have you liberated with your own struggle?” Now this is falsifying history. At a time when Jinnah was badly in need of help, the Sindh assembly was the first provincial legislature to pass a resolution in support of Pakistan. The resolution provided much needed backing for All India Muslim League’s demand for a separate homeland. To say that Sindhis did nothing for their province is yet another falsification of history. Sindhis fought bravely against the advancing British troops. Hoshu Shidi’s war cry of “Sar daysun, Sindh na daysun” (I’ll give away my head but not surrender Sindh) in the battle of Dabba fought in 1843 is duly recorded in history. Pir Sibghatullah Rashidi, the father of the present Pir Pagara, led the Hur insurgency against the Raj and was hanged for the act in 1943 by the British government. It was on account of the efforts of the Sindhi Muslim politicians that Sindh, which had been amalgamated into Bombay soon after the British takeover, achieved the status of a separate province and joined the struggle for Pakistan. Altaf Hussain has also rebuked what he calls the “conscienceless writers” and “analysts teaching false history.” This indicates that Altaf has a tendency for amnesia. When he said on Wednesday that 20 lakh Mohajirs offered their lives for the creation of the country and left their hearths and homes, he conveniently forgot that the worst sufferers from communal riots in 1947 were the Muslims in East Punjab. Those who migrated from East Punjab as a result of the riots became integrated in the local population across the border in no time. They subsequently neither called themselves Mohajirs, nor did they make tall claims about the ‘sacrifices’ they had rendered. Let alone fighting the local population, they became an indivisible part of it. The MQM has confined the term Mohajirs to include only those coming from provinces not contiguous with the borders of Pakistan. Thus people migrating from UP, Bihar and CP mainly are included in the term. Despite their dominant position in the civil service and a share in the armed forces jobs much above their population ratio, a narrative of their deprivation has been constructed.