THIS is apropos your editorial ‘South Punjab’ (Jan 25). You argued that the division of Punjab would inevitably lead to similar demands across Pakistan on an ethnic and administrative basis.

This argument seemingly corresponds to the persistent demands by the MQM to divide Sindh and create a southern Sindh province.

The analogy of the south Punjab province appears to be inapplicable to Sindh. First, there is precedence for the division of Punjab. In 1947, it was bifurcated on the deadly communal lines. Conversely, Sindh remained undivided and joined Pakistan. Secondly, Punjabis are “not sons of the soil” in the Siraiki-speaking belt. Even then they take the division of Punjab unkindly, as you have rightly suggested, whereas Sindhis from its coastal areas to Kashmore have inhabited Sindh from time immemorial.

For Sindhis, Sindh is not only their historical homeland but also their sacred land sanctified by poet-saint Shah Latif.

A major part of the poetry of Latif is composed in the area where the MQM plans to create a new province.

Thus, Sindhis whether on an administrative basis, a catchword of pro-MQM intellectuals, or for any other reason will never be party to the division of Sindh.

DR MEHTAB ALI SHAHJamshoro