THE%20SINDH%20STORY

In January, 1948, Government of India appointed Malkani as Additional Deputy
High Commissioner in Pakistan to organise the migration of Hindus from Sindh.
But Khuhro, the Premier of Sindh, refused to let him tour the province; for, he
said, he did not want the Hindus to leave. And he meant it. He was so keen an
the Hindus staying on that he saw to it that even the “normal” run of dacoities
did not take place. This was more than the refugee Prime Minister of Pakistan,
Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan, could stand. Soon after, Khuhro was dismissed.
Such is the genesis of the “Jiye Sindh” (“Long Live Sindh”) movement, which
caused the MRD (Movement for Restoration of Democracy) to assume the form
of a mass struggle in August-September 1983, when five hundred persons were
killed and railway property alone worth about 150 crores of rupees destroyed. A
complete rationale of this movement is to be found in G .M. Syed’s books The
Past, Present and Future of Sindh, Sindhu Desh --- What and Why, and
Consciousness of Sindh, all in Sindhi. These books make revealing reading. Syed,
born in 1904 and still happily with us, says that Pakistan is a folly and a crime,
that refugees have ruined the country, that West Punjab has reduced Sindh to a
colony and that Pakistan must die so that Sindh can live and breathe freely again.
He elaborates as follows:
First the so-called Islamic State of Pakistan”. It is altogether un-Islamic. There has
never been an Islamic State --- and there never can be one. It is ridiculous to say
that the Koran is the last word in wisdom or knowledge. And in any case there is
nothing in the Koran on which you can base a modern polity --- or build a
modern economy.
Muslims have been divided into various schools from the first day. There are 350
different sects of Islam. There is no provision for a Khalifa in the Koran; but a
Khalifa was fabricated nevertheless --- on the model of the Pope. Religion and
politics were also mixed up in Islam --- again on the model of the mediaeval
Church. Christians, however, had the good sense to separate the Church from
the State centuries ago. Muslims continue to mix up the two --- and muddy both.
Islamic principles are fine; but “Arab Chhaap Islam” (“Made in Arabia Islam”)
has always been intolerant, aggressive and imperialist. The Arabs invaded Sindh
in the name of Islam, sacked it in the name of Islam, sold 20,000 Sindhi men,
women and children in slavery, again in the name of Islam. We have no use for
that kind of Islam. Even tyrannical rulers such as Timur and Aurangzeb had
been hailed as “great Islamic leaders”.
Also much of what passes for Islam is pre-Mohammedan Arab tribal customs.
Qaaba, says Syed, is believed to be an old Shiva linga. Hajis still throw stones to
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