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Pak military forces Sindhi separatists underground

Sanjay Suri in London

Several top leaders of the separatist Jeay Sindh movement in Pakistan have gone underground under the weight of a military crackdown, according to speakers at a Sindhi conference in London this week.

The Jeay Sindh Quami Mahaz is leading a movement for self-determination for Sindhis in Pakistan. At 40 million or so, Sindhis are the second largest community in Pakistan after Punjabis.

The statements by Sindhi leaders coming from Pakistan were indication that the Jeay Sindh movement is continuing after the death of its founder G M Syed.

Syed, the man who piloted the Pakistan resolution in the Sind provincial assembly in 1940, spent almost 30 years in custody after the country became independent.

Two persons were killed and hundreds injured in a crackdown ordered on a meeting last month. The meeting had been called to protest against the construction of the Kalabagh Dam that would mean that Sindh would lose out in a redistribution of the Indus river's waters.

Sohail Memon of the JSQM told the World Sindhi Congress in London that many of the activists who led the meeting had been imprisoned and charged with treason. "Most of the party leadership is now underground for fear of persecution by the police and the military," he said.

The meeting on 'realising sovereignty' was attended by the leaders of several groups. Among them was Sardar Ataullah Mengal of the PONM [Pakistan Oppressed Nations Party] who has emerged as a key figure in a gathering of Sindhi, Mohajir and Baluch leaders in their demands for rights and autonomy within Pakistan. Leaders from several other groups in Sindh like the Sindh Democratic Party attended the meeting.

The meeting adopted a resolution demanding that "political power in the country is handed back to the elected representatives through a transitory mechanism and measures are taken in order to pave the way for a new constitution based on the 1940 Pakistan Resolution". That resolution provides for wide autonomy to member states within Pakistan. The meeting also demanded that the Pakistani Army immediately "go back to its barracks".

The meeting also adopted a resolution in support of self-determination for "all nations" within Pakistan. Another resolution demanded the repeal of the Sharia law.

Balach Marri, son of Baluch leader Khair Bux Marri, said at the meeting that Sindh and Baluchistan face similar domination by Punjab. He said Sindh and Baluchistan "are natural allies and must carry out a joint struggle for liberation".

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