Sindh National Movement & Question of Nationalism in Pakistan

By Sirajul Haque Memon

"Army, bureaucracy, landowners hindering democracy in Pakistan”

Speakers at MRC moot term exploitation of smaller provinces threat to federation.

“Feudal lords and bureaucrats of the Punjab had enjoyed a major share of exploitation of smaller provinces after Pakistan’s creation, which not only earned a bad name to the whole province, but also resulted in dismemberment of the country in the shape of creation of Bangladesh, besides threatening further disintegration in the shape of other regional movements. The military establishment, religious forces and feudal lords were hurdles in complete transformation of Pakistan into a democratic and secular state”. These views were expressed by speakers at a conference organized by Minority Rights Commission on 8th May 2007 at Lahore Press Club.

All speakers were of the opinion that the military, bureaucracy and feudal lords had joined hands in an unannounced struggle to deprive the country of real democracy and portray it as a theoretic state in order to continue exploitation and usurpation of resource share of small provinces. They said it was high time middle and educated classes of the Punjab disowned the military establishment and feudal lords of their province, so that they might not be bracketed with them anymore. They expressed satisfaction that unlike the past, now the issue could not be hushed up and was a subject of debate in the Punjab.

A large number of members and activists from different political parties, civil society organizations, trade unions and movements attended the conference.

List of speakers:

• Abdul Khaliq Jonejo, Chairman Sindh Jae Mahaz
• Dr. Mubarak Ali, Historian
• Prof Ijazul Hasan, PPP leader
• Ehsan Wyne, ANP leader
• Manzoor Gilani, ARD leader
• Farooq Tariq, Labour Party Pakistan leader
• Manzoor Tareen, Seraiki Party Leader
• Abid Saqi Bhatti, advocate
• Akram Mirani, Researcher
• Peter Jacob, NCJP
• Younis Alam, MRC

Detailed Report

Minority Rights Commission organized a national dialogue on Sindh national movement at the Lahore Press Club on 8th May 2007. Its purpose was to discuss a booklet, titled “National Movement of Sindh and Question of Nationalism in Pakistan,” which was also the subject of discussion and its objective was to promote debate on realization of rights of nationalities in country.

The booklet has been written by noted Sindhi nationalist leader Engr Abdul Khaliq Junejo, Chairman Jeay Sindh Mahaz, who presided over the discussion. In the booklet author has focused the history of nationalist movements in Sindh, its causes and back ground and the suppressive tactics employed by successive military regimes to crush it.

Abdul Khaliq Junejo, Chairman Sindh Jae Mahaz praised the people of Punjab for admitting the exploitative role of their feudal lords, adding that it was a new beginning since such kind of thinking did not exist in the past. He said it was the movement they had been waiting for. He, however, said it was just the beginning and such debates would have to go a long way before making the people identify the actual problems facing the country and then make efforts to solve them. He said Pakistan was not a nation state but a multination state where some nations had a much longer history and culture than the country itself. He said Pakistan was the only country in the world where the military establishment had punished the nations which waged a tough struggle for its creation in terms of their sacrifices. He said the Bangalis had sacrificed heavily and struggled hard for the creation of

Pakistan, but they were punished the most. “Similarly, the Sindhis were the next in line and were being punished accordingly. Then came Pakhtuns and Baloch,” he said.

He clarified several complaints against the Sindhi nationalist movements and said they had never bracketed the common people of Punjab with generals and feudal lords, representing the imperialists. He said, “In fact, the Sindhi nationalists have always held Punjabi nationalists and folk poets, heroes etc in high esteem.” He said the Sindhi nationalists were truly democrats and never supported dictatorship. “Besides, no feudal lord or wadera was included in the movement as it was run by commoners, working classes and peasants,” he said, adding that the Punjab had never been the target of Sindhi nationalists but the state which was founded according to the colonial structure. “It was the colonial structure which we want to change but the problem is that Punjab feudal lords and generals were promoting it, “he said, adding that a just distribution of national resources was the ultimate objective of the Sindhi nationalist movement.

He said the question of Sindh nationalism was cropped up soon after the partition when Sindh middle class, comprising mainly a religious minority was driven to India and vacuum was filled by feudal lords who joining hands with elite classes of other provinces established Pakistan as their personal fiefdom. He traced the history of national question in different provinces and said that it got boost when the state imposed One-Unit in 1955, which was meant that state was depriving different nationalities of their geographical and cultural identity. He was of the view that even 1973 constitution failed to address the root cause of the problem by ignoring the question of autonomy and introducing concurrent list to add to gravity of the situation. He warned that Punjabi intellectuals projecting the concept of a state were actually negating two-nation theory since existence of Pakistani nation would mean that concept of Hindu and a Muslim nation in united India was false.

Prof. Ijazul Hasan, a Pakistan Peoples Party leader speaking on the occasion said Islam had been used as a slogan by the military establishment and feudal lords to their exploitation. “Common Punjabis are not part of the exploitive classes and they should not be identified among the military generals, bureaucrats and landowners who plundered national wealth,” he added. He said snubbing of rights of the federating units through National Finance Commission could never prove to be fruitful. He was of the view that when state oppression crosses its limits the rebellion is allowed, so it would be wrong to term the nationalists as traitors.

He regretted that people of Sindh, Balochistan and the NWFP were still deprived of their share of national resources, which had led to intense hatred against the Punjab. He said the country was witnessing a strong movement against military dictatorship and it was time all constitutional questions, like what should be the country’s constitutional identity, should be settled. A solution to all problems of the country lay in strict following of the constitutional structure of federation, he opined.

Dr. Mubarak Ali, a renowned historian, said the political leadership of the Punjab was responsible for the deprivation of other provinces since they badly failed to stop their exploitation or even to create awareness among people of the Punjab that they were being bracketed with the exploiters and had become a target of hatred by other provinces.

He said nationalism in the smaller provinces was a natural phenomenon since they had older history and culture than the country, but warned that nationalist movements should not be allowed to become fascist, ethnic or biased which, he feared, might be the logical outcome of the present movements if their direction was not set the required goals.

He said subcontinent was a multinational region and its people had their recognition in respect of culture, language and nation even before the creation of Pakistan. He said unfortunately the concept of nation state could not evolved in Pakistan. He said the state nationalism was not ready to accept the identity of the nations. He said the nationalist movement is always secular and it is the Mohajar movement in Sindh which caused greater damage to Sindh national movement.  Dilating upon the causes of extremism he said the state of Pakistan was created in the name of religion so the popular concept of a nation is associated with Islam and it is presented as such in negative way. He also warned the nationalist movement against the possible pitfalls like cultural fascism, entry of criminal elements and feudal lords who might hijack their movement. The Punjabi intellectuals must come forward and tell the people about the conditions of people of smaller provinces, the historian added.

Ehsan Whyne, central leader of Awami National Party, said country owed its establishment to Bengal and Sindh whose assemblies adopted a resolution in favor of Pakistan ahead of Lahore Resolution 1940. The Punjab rulers did not want a separate state because it was under the rule of Unionist Party who was happy with their colonial masters. He said question of rights should be seen in the context of classes because the fight was against the oppressive system which was being perpetrated by the feudal class which invited the armed forces to intervene to mutilate the democratic and secular face of the country.

He demanded reduction in the size of the army besides auditing its budget by parliament. So that people of smaller provinces could enjoy their share of the bread and country could rid of military rule. He said people did not need an army which never defended the country, never fought a war with determination, but was always defeated, sold out rivers and mountains and plundered national resources. He warned that the country was in deep danger as smaller and deprived provinces were bent upon rebelling against the federation since they were facing deadly military operations. He said Pakhtuns used to be secular, but continued military operations had turned them into Islamic fascists and Taliban.

Farooq Tariq, General Secretary Labour Party Pakistan said Pakistan was not created on religious foundation because religious basis could not keep a state united for a longer time. He said the two-nation theory was false, which was later proved by the establishment of Bangladesh, which clearly proved that nationalism, not religion, was the actual basis of founding any country. He said it was only generals and mullahs that were still trumpeting the slogan of Islamic ideology just to prevent real democracy from taking roots. He said only ruling classes of the Punjab were in favor of the Kalabagh Dam whereas all the other three provinces were against it. He held the ruling classes of the Punjab responsible for the killing of nationalist leaders, like Akbar Bugti, since they backed the military establishment in eliminating the nationalists who dared stand against the army for their rights. He said no state can sustain on the foundation of religion. Without insurance to the rights of nationalities there is less likelihood of any state to grow, he opined.

Farooq Tariq said the development budget for one district of Punjab was bigger than whole province of Balochistan. He quoted the example of District Gujarat, whose development budget is, more than Rs. 11 billion. Such type of unjustified distribution of economic resources is creating and consolidating resentment among smaller provinces.  He praised the lawyers’ community for resisting dictatorship and rejecting the unlawful suspension of the chief justice. It showed true spirit of the Punjabis to stand for justice.

Akram Mirani, a researcher said the military establishment had handed over all educational institutions to the Jamiat under a conspiracy, so that they could knock out rationalism and wisdom from the minds of youths by exercising violence. He said it was only after the visits of Sikh pilgrims and normalization of relation with India that people of Pakistan had realized that religious slogans had pushed them backward intellectually.

He said increasing religious militancy has created problems and the promotion of cultural identities and nationalities is a viable option to counter the extremism. He said Mullah military alliance has created conflicts among provinces. He said politicians were looking for solution of problems through back door dialogue where as there should be an open discussion on the national issue. He said the purpose of Minority Rights Commission to organize this dialogue in Lahore is to promote consciousness among Punjabis about the national question of Sindh.

Commenting on the on-going lawyers’ movement against the military regime he said, the support to Mushrraf regime from Punjab has been eroded. This is a positive message from Punjab to the smaller provinces and nationalities that Punjabis are not stand with the military regime and the plunderers of the rights of the people. He urged the people of Punjab to speak other wise their silence may be termed as support for dictators.

Abid Saqi Advocate, former secretary Lahore High Court Bar Association said differences in the name of sects, language and religion should be removed. He said action in Balochistan in the name of war against Talbanization had worsened the plight of the Balochs who were struggling to achieve their basic rights from the ruling section of Punjab. He asserted that powerful establishment of the state has always strengthened the center in a state which was multi-national in character. As a consequence a model of rule by force emerged and the center deprived the people of smaller federating units of their right to even taking decisions regarding simple matters like education health and socio-economic development.

He was of the view that such a deplorable state of affairs weakened the statehood because the provincial resources remained in the hands of center which governed the state with the help of feudal lords to begin with and then engineered military interventions. The religious forces extended their hand of cooperation to both the undemocratic dispensations. He said conditions of deprived classes of Punjab are also miserable. They too are struggling against feudalism and rulers the way Sindhis, Balochis, Serakis and Pakhtoons are striving against federation and demanding their rights. He urged the audience to look at the issue through class question.

Peter Jacob, Executive Secretary National Commission for Justice and Peace said Pakistan had signed a United Nations memorandum for elimination of discrimination in society and was bound to report after three years. But no report had been submitted for the last 18 years. Advocating the Sindhi nationalism, he pleaded for sovereignty and autonomy to all provinces with the authority to write a new social contract with the objective of redefining their relationship with the federation.

He said when the Sindh national movement got strengthened in 60s the movements of smaller nationalities also started consolidating. He said it is point to ponder that why the issue of nationalities rights on their natural resources is dealt as a separate issue from the broader question of nationalism. He said it an important aspect of this discussion and urged the need to continue dialogue on this question. He announced unconditional support to Sindh national movement and vowed solidarity with just cause of the deprived people of Sindh.

Manzoor Gillani, ARD leader said the leadership crisis was the main problem. He said we are Pakistanis and we should strive for the improvement of the system and the nation state instead of promoting concept of nations with in a nation. He said in view of sensitivity of the topic it would be better to hold a round table conference instead such conference.

He differed with the thesis presented by Abdul Khaliq Jonejo and said there is no question of rights of different nationalities rather there is a question of rights of all Pakistanis. We all are Pakistanis and must look at thing from a Pakistani point of view; He said adding that we all must sit together and sort out our issues.

 He said Punjab has always been target of severe criticism of smaller provinces but no body bothered to look at history. It is the people of Punjab who extended popular support to leaders from Sindh and other smaller provinces. He said we must be clear that our struggle should not be against Pakistan rather it should be against the dictators and usurpers.

Source: http://www.hisoft.us/sites/mrcpak/chapdr/n-conference.htm

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