Daily Times

The Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party hosted a ‘Qomi Conference’ on Sunday, April 17 in Hyderabad to appraise the serious consequences of the agreements signed by the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the Pakistan People’s Party with MQM-P to get its seven votes for the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan regime. The Conference was attended by all the nationalist political parties and a galaxy of over 300 delegates comprising representatives of non-political entities, members of civil society, professors, intellectuals, writers and poets.

The Qomi Conference at the end of the day-long deliberations adopted a communiqué unanimously condemning the agreements as irrational, amoral, illegal, and unconstitutional, and a direct, deliberate and ominous attack on the geographical integrity of Sindh. The conference resolved to form a united front to mobilise the people of Sindh to foil the sinister attempts of the new coalition partners to undermine the historic territorial oneness of the second largest federal constituent and to promote and patronise a fascist and terrorist political group as the sole representative of the Urban regions affirming the misleading and highly provocative scheme of the ethnic and linguistic division of Sindh.

The communiqué–reflective of the sentiments of the political leaders and the delegates against the agreements–stresses that: 1) Sindh had not come into existence through any accident or incident. It has been the motherland of Sindhis since millennia with a geographical, cultural and civilisational history; the sons and daughters of this land have fought to the last drop of their blood to preserve its geographical frontiers; 2) Sindh is indivisible. Considering it a province of two ethnic and linguistic peoples and consequently apportioning its political and administrative powers and economic resources on this basis is anti-Sindh and unconstitutional; 3) MQM-P is a fascist and terrorist organisation, which Islamabad promotes, patronises and uses in its anti-Sindh designs; 4) all patriotic Sindhis should come on a united political platform to confront in electoral and parliamentary politics the ruling PPP, which has inflicted more pain and misery on this land during its four consecutive terms since 1972 and particularly since 2008.

The pain becomes more acute when one comes across the signatures of Pakhtun and Baloch nationalists as guarantors for the mayhem the land of Sindh would be bound to suffer from in the days to come.

The anger and angst of the participants against the agreements were unprecedented and reflected the inherent capacity of the people of the province to rise as a phoenix against any attack on the geographical unity of their land. Their phenomenal resentment against the agreements is justified legally, constitutionally and morally. The President of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the Chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party had no mandate to crucify Sindh at the altar of their myopic, shallow and narrow political expediencies for the sake of the seven MQM votes in their battle against the Imran Khan regime.

By glancing through the agreements what painful impression one inevitably gathers is that there are allied powers on one side and the lone deserter (read MQM) with seven soldiers (read votes) on the other side of the table, and in between lies spread the map of a heirless, abandoned or conquered land which they want to dissect into pieces and dole out one chunk to this modern Naomal from this vanquished territory for his help in conquering Islamabad. The pain becomes more acute when one comes across the signatures of Pakhtun and Baloch nationalists as guarantors for the mayhem the land of Sindh would be bound to suffer from in the days to come.

The agreement signed between the Pakistan Muslim League with MQM in its clause 17 recognises the need for new administrative units all over Pakistan, and a timeframe to create new administrative units in Pakistan in consultation with all stakeholders including MQM shall be agreed upon, while clause 18 recognises officially Karachi as driver of economic growth and financial capital of the country, and through legislation, ‘special dispensation’ shall be offered to the city to generate economic activities, support businesses and to create employment.

These clauses are couched in sanctimonious words to mask their sinister purposes. What concern and interest the MQM has in the new administrative units of Hazarwal in KPK, South Punjab province or the Pashtun administrative unit consisting of Pashtun districts in Balochistan which has been discussed in the past. Instead, the MQM, since its inception, has been clamouring for the division of Sindh into two provinces or the separation of Karachi from Sindh. It is clear that the question of the creation of new administrative units as reflected by this article is specific to Sindh and would hang like Damocles’ sword over its head. The PML-N had no political and constitutional mandate or moral justification whatsoever for such agreement.

Clause 18 written by a mind swifter than that of the primitive British warriors including Napier and John Jacob is very appealing to an onlooker but cannot deceive people well aware of the relentless attempts of MQM to separate Karachi from Sindh. The use of the unambiguous term “special dispensation” raises many eyebrows. What will be this “special dispensation,” which is to be offered to the city? Would it be a distorted interpretation and use of the constitutional clause 149 to bring Karachi under federal control as the MQM had been pushing Prime Minister Imran Khan throughout his tenure to meet this sinister demand?

No Sindhi is against the development of Karachi as the engine of economic growth and commercial and financial hub of the country. They would resent and resist changing the current status of Karachi as the capital of Sindh by any ‘special dispensation’. This would be too dangerous a move and ignite political and ethnic hostilities of enormous magnitude endangering the lives, properties, employments and businesses of indigenous Sindhis, Baloch and other ethnic and linguistic groups living in Karachi for decades keeping in view the MQM’s fascist behaviour from 1988 to 2008. Who has forgotten this horrible record of bloodletting? Would the new political dispensation in Islamabad be willing to plunge the city into a renewed mayhem?

The author was a member of the Foreign Service of Pakistan and he has authored two books.