Explosions in Sindh

Published May 5, 2012

A PERSON died and several others were injured after 21 explosions rocked different cities of Sindh. Buildings were also damaged and vehicles destroyed. The most hit were the ATMs of the National Bank of Pakistan. There were seven explosions at different places of Hyderabad like Anaj Mandi, Fatima Jinnah Road, Nasimnagar and Latifabad No 7. The other affected Sindh cities include Kotri, Mehar, Dadu, Badin, Sukkur, Nawabshah and Qazi Ahmad. …A device [also] exploded inside a National Bank branch near the Press Club. The Sindhu Desh Liberation Army has accepted responsibility

…[Meanwhile] a hunger strike arranged by the Sukkur chapter of the Jiye Sindh Students Federation on its call to protest against the injustices against Sindhi students in Karachi’s educational institutions continued for the second day running. According to the hunger strikers, Sindhi-speaking students are not given admission in Karachi’s educational institutions on the basis of language. They say that there is not a single university in interior Sindh [comparable to universities] in Karachi…. And that is why Sindhi students are deprived of education. In their view, the Urdu-speaking community of Karachi wants to keep the Sindhi-speaking people away from education.

Though all features of paradise … have been ruined from Khyber to Karachi the new spate of protests in Sindh is alarming. The prolonged civil war-like situation in Balochistan has not been countered sensibly due to which it now looks like a full-fledged rebellion. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become hell because of our strategic-depth approach. Linguistic differences are being promoted to trigger the division of Punjab, and the criminal role of the PPP and its prime minister in this is prominent. Under such circumstances, explosions in Sindh because of unrest are a source of concern for everyone. …Adopting the path of [violence] … is not right. The government must immediately remove the Sindhis’ apprehensions…. — (May 3)

Selected and translated by Intikhab Hanif