With nobody ready to lead them, dozens of people demonstrated outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Tuesday demanding a separate province for the Urdu-speaking community living in Sindh. As protesters gathered outside the KPC for the demonstration, within minutes a large number of people from all directions started joining them. Two people started distributing posters inscribed with a demand for a separate province for Mohajirs. During the protest, the demonstrators chanted slogans in favour of their demand but nobody addressed the participants. Some people were, however, seen engaged in conducting the enthusiastic protesters voluntarily for an organised coverage.
“The only solution to problems of Mohajirs is a separate province” was the slogan inscribed on the poster distributed at the protest. Addressing the Urdu-speaking community, the poster stated that if Mohajirs want education, government jobs, health facilities and justice, they should join the Mohajir Suba Tehreek (MST). Some placards held by protesters demanded “if there could not be a Mohajir chief minister of Sindh, then a separate province is essential”. Other slogans inscribed on posters and placards at the protest were: “Survival of Pakistan is in establishment of Mohajir province”; “Give representation to Mohajirs in Sindh bureaucracy”; “Mohajirs’ redemption in Mohajir Province”; “Save Pakistan, make Mohajir province”.
Another of the posters stated that if the government can advocate for Seriaki and Hazara provinces, then it should also think for a Mohajir province.
Interestingly, nobody among the participants was ready to own each other and when asked about their representatives, the protesters said that they had come to the KPC by themselves and were not asked by anyone to come for the demonstration.
When this scribe asked a protester of his leader, he in turn questioned if he was a Mohajir. When replied in the affirmative, the man told him to be ashamed of himself and handing him a poster, directed the reporter to join the protest also.
Talking with Pakistan Today, a protester named Shakir Ali said: “Mohajirs rendered sacrifices for the creation of Pakistan, but they have been deprived of their rights since the creation of the country.”
He said he had come from the Nazimabad area to attend the demonstration. “I was not invited by anyone but I heard from someone that people would gather at KPC at 4:00 pm,” he said. “We are the sons of those who rendered great sacrifices for this country and today we are deprived of our own rights.”
Another protester, Faisal, said he had come from Landhi for the protest.
When asked who was leading the demonstration, he replied in the negative. “I came here to tell the world that our ancestors were killed by the Indians in 1947 and now we are being killed by our own [people],” he said.
“If the prime minister can raise a voice for separate Seriaki and Hazara provinces, then we also need a separate province for Mohajirs,” he added.
Who are they? the mysterious Mohajir province campaigners
