HYDERABAD: Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) chairman Afaq Ahmed Khan has said that a movement for ‘South Sindh’ province is the only solution to the issues being faced by the Muhajir community.

“We will have to face bullets; and when we will launch a struggle and offer sacrifice of our lives, the issues will be resolved,” he said while addressing a public meeting of his party in Bagh-i-Mustafa Ground, Latifabad, on Friday evening.

Alluding to MQM founder Altaf Hussain, he said that the entire Muhajir nation paid the price for the mistake committed by one individual. Today, Muhajirs are dubbed as traitors and their patriotism is questioned. “It’s Muhajirs who ensured independence for all nations here, yet they are asked to prove their loyalty,” he wondered, and said that it was an irony that those who had made others Pakistanis were being asked to prove themselves to be Pakistani.

Afaq Khan said that his party had demanded repatriation of stranded Pakistanis from camps in Bangladesh, abolition of quota system enforced in 1973, Muhajir students’ admission to professional colleges on a merit, establishment of a university in Hyderabad, etc but none of these demands were accepted.

He also criticised the Sindh chief minister for threatening that if excesses against Sindhis continued, then they would be forced to think otherwise. Nobody was asking the CM about his threatening tone and intentions, he observed. “If a Mohajir thinks like this even in his dream, this is termed a sin,” he remarked.

The MQM chief said that Sindh was a minority in the federation as Punjab had 56pc population of the country. The CM has the right to raise his voice against excesses against Sindh, being a minority, he said.

He stressed that Muhajirs needed a separate province and that he would hold a mini referendum on it. He pointed out that Pakistan was created while there was no provision on the Britishers’ statute for a separate country in the subcontinent. Therefore, he said, he was least concerned about two-thirds majority in the Sindh Assembly [on a new province].

Afaq Khan advised the Urdu-speaking community to avoid wasting time and money “by sipping tea at Pashtuns’ outlets” and better utilise the time in finding some livelihood.

“No Pashtun prefers to buy even a matchstick from a Muhajir’s shop out of his commitment. Therefore, Muhajirs should also vow not to trade with them,” he said, but wondered whether Muhajirs would go for the idea.

Published in Dawn, January 22nd, 2022