Footprints: Sindh hardens its heart

Published July 25, 2014
Photo from June 19, 2014 shows Sindh Bachayo Committee convener Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah on Saturday holding up a letter sent by the alliance to the prime minister over the issue of internally displaced persons.—White Star
Photo from June 19, 2014 shows Sindh Bachayo Committee convener Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah on Saturday holding up a letter sent by the alliance to the prime minister over the issue of internally displaced persons.—White Star

PERCHED high on a truck, Niaz Kalani of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) is in the middle of an intense speech as he criticises and shames the elected representatives of Sindh for acting irresponsibly. In the sweltering noon heat, a motley group of people belonging to the Sindh Bachayo Committee (SBC) listen to him either sitting or squatting on red mats spread on the left lane of the main National Highway across the Bin Qasim bypass in Hyderabad. The area surrounding the sit-in seems festive, as a group of lawyers affiliated with the Progressive Lawyers Forum have also joined the protest. Sitting beside other SBC members, Asadullah Shah says: “As a people we have our sympathies with the IDPs but as part of a province our reservations are quite clear. The worsening law and order situation in Karachi, along with the ailing economy of the province in general, is reflective of the growing disparity across Sindh. Allowing unregistered IDPs anywhere is the biggest mistake a government can make.” 

Nearby, Zain Kalani, 28, a student activist of the JSQM, nods whenever he thinks the speaker has made a valid point. Standing beside him, some of his comrades are either busy shouting slogans or checking out the people joining the protest as Niaz’s voice goes up a notch. Naming a specific ethnicity and referring to them as the ‘Taliban’, Niaz’s voice goes hoarse trying to shout out to the authorities that, “Once inside our territory, these people will indulge in terrorist activities. They are dharyal [thief]. And that’s what they are good at.” The comment is received with loud applause and whistles. The sit-in is part of the various protests organised by the SBC in recent weeks against the influx of IDPs in Sindh. Speaking about the exodus, Zain says the job insecurity that the province has seen in recent years speaks for itself. “As Sindhis, we are on the verge of becoming a minority in our own province. Ten years back, an axe or a stick were the only things a farmer had. Now, we see caches of weapons being distributed around. We feel insecure in our own land. Who should we hold responsible for that?” 

As the clock strikes two, the nationalists along with the group who had gathered around to see what was happening, scurry away to make way for the honking transport trucks heading to their destinations. 

Back in Karachi, high court lawyer Shah Wali Khan is putting the finishing touches to a petition he will file in the high court after Eid. The petition pertains to the ongoing harassment faced by the IDPs in Sindh. “This move by the nationalists to stop and harass IDPs is unconstitutional. You can’t stop people from moving within a country,” he says. The annoyance in his voice is obvious when he says: “Families have been stopped and handed over to police officers stationed at the National and Super highways. Most have been questioned for hours. It is an attempt to hurt the basic ideology of Pakistan. This country was not made for a particular ethnicity or a community. Pakhtuns are as much a part of it as anyone else. Pakhtuns are not terrorists.”

Most Sindh districts observe half-day shutdown on SBC call

Voicing similar concerns, Malik Ghulam Khan, an elder of a jirga in North Waziristan and currently an activist in Bannu, says in a telephonic conversation: “The treatment meted out to the IDPs at various camps is beyond deplorable. People are baton-charged if they protest at the slow distribution of rations. The registration process has not started yet.” 

Recently, a police officer opened fire inside a football stadium, a ration distribution point near Kohat checkpoint in Bannu, killing one and wounding two, he says, after a few men got into a spat with the officer over the lack of rations at the stadium. “I just want to add that these families are innocent and peaceful. Only people who have left their hearth and home will understand how it feels to be questioned in your own country,” he says. 

“This movement to restore the sanctity of Sindh by nationalists is motivated by three factors,” says Riaz Ahmed Sheikh, head of the social sciences department at the Szabist education institute. “One of them is to create a nuisance. Since most of these nationalists were not elected to power in the general elections of 2013, they have to resort to such issues for their own survival. Secondly, with the exodus new avenues to earn money come to the fore, to which most ethnicities have not been able to adapt themselves the way the Pakhtuns have. And, third, is to protect their economic interests, which also involves holding on to the land they have illegally grabbed over the years.”

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2014

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