SANN (Jamshoro): It was a sparkling sunny morning, typical of winter season, with clear blue skies on Saturday. Sann, a small town of Sindh’s Jamshoro district, located on the right bank of the Indus River, wore a festive look as large groups of people, mostly activists of various Sindhi nationalist entities, were walking towards the town’s graveyard.
One such group was present at the grave of veteran Sindhi nationalist leader G.M. Syed.
Placing their right hand on the marbled grave, they recited poetry of Shaikh Ayaz, Sindhhudesh ji dharti tou tey ....pahnjo sees nivaya.
“He is our political prophet. I visit him out of Ishq”, says Muzamil Katyar, a young man from Tando Allahyar district. “Syed spent 40 years of his life in jail for Sindh,” he remarks while attending Syed’s 122nd birth anniversary in Sann.
If charismatic Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and iconic Benazir Bhutto rule the hearts and minds of people from their mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bux, G.M. Syed keeps influencing his followers across Sindh. For them, Saen G.M. Syed means a lot whenever it comes to struggle for restitution of Sindh’s rights.
Regardless of multiple factions having divided the nationalist parties inspired by Syed’s ideology, the slogan of Jeay Sindh has never lost its charm for them.
G.M. Syed, considered to be the pioneer of modern Sindhi nationalism, had died in detention at a hospital in April 1995. He remained incarcerated for around 31 years without facing any charges, though he was dubbed as ‘secessionist’ by the country’s rulers. His Jeay Sindh Movement (JSM) faced splits after split with some factions adopting violent means as well. Many of Syed’s followers have fallen prey to prolonged or unending detention and many others are still unaccounted for. Some of them are dubbed as ‘proxies of external forces’.
“To me, the Sindhudesh movement has lost its vigour, but the slogan is influencing the minds,” says Syed Zain Shah, G.M. Syed’s paternal grandson while alluding to factionalism in the JSM.
While Syed shunned politics in 70s within Pakistan’s framework after propounding the ‘Sindhudesh’ concept, parliamentary politics returned to his family in the late 90s soon after his death in 1995.
Zain’s elder brother Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah won a seat of the Sindh Assembly in 1997 and eventually became its deputy speaker. Now ailing, Jalal Shah had in 2006 founded his Sindh United Party (SUP) which Zain Shah actively heads as president.
He pursues parliamentary politics, though in opposition, which rejects the Feb 8, 2024 general election results and the parliament emerging out of it.
The Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM) founded by G.M. Syed kept facing fragmentation.
The Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, founded by Bashir Qureshi, is one of the at least eight factions and actively follows Syed’s ideology of Sindhudesh. Another faction is the proscribed Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) which is led by Shafi Burfat from abroad. There also exist militant factions like the Sindhudesh Liberation Army (SLA) and Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA).
Abdul Khaliq Junejo heads his own Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM) and runs a peaceful campaign for Sindhis’ right to self-determination.
He agrees that Sindh’s nationalist movement has lost the elements of its character and ideology. “Resonance of Syed’s philosophy, nonetheless, remains as strong as ever. It is evident from the fact that even federalist and religious parties have to essentially talk about protecting Sindh’s interests or rights,” Junejo asserts.
Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2026
