Watch: Violence breaks out after Pakistan opens fire on Sindh nationalists

Pakistani police opened fire on Sindh nationalists who had gathered to celebrate the 119th birth anniversary of Sindhi nationalist leader GM Syed in his hometown Jamshoro, on Tuesday.

Three policemen and two activists were injured while two police vehicles burnt down in the violence. Videos show people calling for ‘azadi’–freedom from Pakistan. The protestors clashed with the police after which dozens of people were arrested.

Hundreds of activists, workers, and leaders visited Syed’s grave to pay honours and pray for his peaceful afterlife. Organisations like Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM), Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM), Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement (JSFM-Zafar Sahito) and the SUP, headed by Syed Munir Haider Shah–the great grandson of Syed, led the protests asking for an independent Sindh.

Zafar Sahito of the JSFM told India Narrative that Pakistan Rangers and intelligence agencies fired at the peaceful rallies. He added that hundreds of people are arrested and the forces clamped curfew in Sann in Sindh.

Pakistani newspaper Dawn quoted DIG Pir Mohammad Shah as saying that the police had information Sindhi nationalist organisations will “raise anti-state slogans and display such banners during the programmes to appease India”.

Sindh has been rocked by a nationalist movement as the Sindhi identity still resonates with that of India. The Sindhi nationalists say that they do not want to accept Islamist agenda peddled by successive Pakistani governments. They hold Pakistan responsible for decades of poor governance, suppression of people, arbitrary enforced disappearances and extra-judicial killings of the Sindhi community.

Many Sindhi people say they feel proud of their culture and traditions lie in the roots of the Indus Valley civilization. The result is that the Sindhi people have resurrected the legacy of Maharaja Dahir Sen–the last Hindu ruler of Sindh. The people have cleverly pitched forward the identity they derive from the pre-Islamic history of their region.

The Sindhi diaspora in the West is not far behind in this movement. They been holding protests across the world for an independent Sindhudesh nation wherein they have mustered support from the Baloch, Afghan and Pashtoon groups who too are seeking freedom from Pakistan.

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