Sindhis protest over illegal migration and enforced disappearances

The nationalist Sindhi organisation Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement (JSFM) organised a rally in Karachi to highlight the issue of illegal migration in Sindh and raise the plight of missing persons.

In a press release on Friday, JSFM Chairman Sohail Abro said that “abductions of political workers by Pakistani forces and intelligence agencies has intensified. He alleged that they have been breaking into houses and violating the sanctity of Sindhi homes.

The Sindhi’s celebrate the National Sindhi Cultural Day on December 4. Various Sindhi organisations used the day to take out a rally from Shahrah Faisal Karachi to the Karachi Press Club.

The protestors raised slogans asking the government to remove illegal refugees in Sindh and also locate Sindhi and Baloch political workers who have been forcibly disappeared by State agencies.

Addressing the rally, Abro alleged that illegal immigrants from Afghanistan and other parts of Pakistan have killed many Sindhis and plan to take over their resources. They Sindhi leaders fear that the Sindhis will get reduced into a minority in their own homeland.

Other Sindhi leaders also emphasised on the extra-judicial murders and forced disappearances of national workers by the Pakistani State, and called for independence of their land.

Rising nationalism in Sindh due to Pakistan’s discriminatory politics is making Sindhis revisit their pre-Islamic history as well. Many have begun to challenge the national symbols imposed upon them by the Pakistani State and have re-discovered Maharaja Dahir Sen–the last Hindu ruler of Sindh. Disenchanted with Islamabad’s discriminatory policies, Sindhis want Dahir Sen’s statue to be installed which goes against the Islamic ethos of Pakistan.

The Sindhi nationalists have joined hands with Baloch rebels in their efforts to secede from Pakistan. They have been carrying out small scale attacks on communications towers as well as railways. In rare cases they have attacked even attacked Pakistani military personnel in order to keep their movement alive.

Besides Abro, the rally was addressed by Zubair Sindhi, Ghulam Hussain Shabrani, Amr Azadi, Sodhu Sindhi, Hafeez Desi and Parh Sindhu. They also appealed to the international community to pressure Pakistani armed forces to stop enforced abductions and end the reign of helplessness and fear among the people of Sindh.

Also Read: Extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances continue in Balochistan: rights body