In an open letter to the ambassadors from around the world assigned to Pakistan, Awami Jamhoori Party President Abrar Kazi and Zulfiqar Halepoto of the Sindh Democratic Forum have tried to explain “the viewpoint of the Sindhi nation”.
The letter has also been released to the press, political parties, the civil society and concerned citizens.
According to the letter, the dust storm in the politics of Sindh created by the differing stands of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the nationalist parties has clouded the truth.
Many people in Pakistan do not understand the complexities of Sindh’s politics. Briefly explained, the reason of triggering the conflict at this moment of time is the Local Government Ordinance (LGO) introduced by General Pervez Musharraf in 2001. It had the ostensible aim of bringing democracy to the grass-roots level and de-centralisation of power.
But his real aim, as unravelled by the history of his period of governance, was to perpetuate his unconstitutional and illegal rule by means of direct presidential control over the lowest tier of the government. The people of Sindh were never happy with the old and oppressive colonial commissionerate system that concentrated power in the district bureaucracy, but they rejected Musharraf’s system because they saw the mischief it could do in the long run by dividing their motherland.
The differing stands came to a headlong collision when the PPP undid the Musharraf’s LGO by reintroducing the commissionerate system but swiftly imposed a dual system of the nazim system in Karachi and Hyderabad and the commissionerate system for the rest of Sindh. The dual system created resentment in people’s minds that the government has virtually divided Sindh in order to please the MQM as a price to stop targeted killings in Karachi.
The Sindhi people’s love for their motherland, its integrity and unity, is phenomenal. They showed their rejection and resentment against the government’s decision through a peaceful and total protest. The total strike of August 13 throughout the province has, to a large extent, proved that the merit of nationalist stand is overwhelmingly accepted by the people of the province irrespective of party positions, flags and affiliations.
The Musharraf’s system made the districts independent administratively and financially, bypassing the provincial control. When applied to Karachi this power could be used to separate Karachi from the rest of Sindh. This time also, under the political control of MQM, and with the full backing of military dictatorship, this is exactly what happened. A number of steps were taken which indicated the designs of the future separation of Karachi from Sindh.
The Western governments tend to measure the PPP and the MQM through the quantum of electorate success. We suggest that you examine the strike of August 13 carefully and look at the matter out of the narrow ‘electorate success’ box.