2013 is election year in Pakistan; it’s time to judge the political forces per their performance in last five years. But none of the political parties has any tangible thing to be proud of – corruption, lawlessness, terrorism, ethnic and sectarian rifts, lack of basic amenities/utilities, consistent decline in the standard of living – you name any bad norm, that’ the way of life in Pakistan. Then how to attract the masses; some people have decided to encourage further divisions of this already fractured nation for their short term gains. First came the demand for Hazara province to be carved out of KP, then movement for a separate Seraiki province hit the headlines; so far both the new provinces movements have been comparatively peaceful, limited to speeches, rallies and TV talk shows.
However, recent wall chalking and rallies in Karachi for a Mohajir province (or Southern Sindh province) has not been welcomed by the other ethnic groups living in Sindh. This has made the day for normally obscured Sindhi nationalist parties, who are dead against division of Sindh, to be back in the lime light. These nationalist parties have vowed to forcibly stop any proposed division of the province. All those people who are voicing for a Mohajir province need to understand that such a demand is a non-starter say the least. Urdu-speaking community is not limited to Karachi and Hyderabad only; a large number of ordinary people of this community are living in interior Sindh.
Any division or even demand for division would lead to bloodbath all across the province. Last week’ firing on a Karachi rally followed by killing of bus passengers in Nawabshah shall open the eyes of tho se opportunists who think they can garner more votes by putting up a demand for a Mohajir province. Those who are on the forefront of this demand can’t fulfill the legal requirements as placed by the constitution for new provinces, then why to create hatred and rift among the communities living in Sindh.
Instead they shall be more vocal to demand reasonable financial and administrative powers for city governments. This is the only way to serve their constituencies, not by misguiding the youngsters for a mirage which can’t be achieved. They shall realize that still hundreds of thousands of Urdu-speaking people are still living in refugees camps in Bangladesh; a gift from hatred and rift which broke the Pakistan in 1971. We don’t want to repeat the same mistake.
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia