THE%20SINDH%20STORY

The Sindhi leaders in their goodness had invited Jinnah to set up the capital of
Pakistan in Karachi. But Liaqat Ali detached Karachi from Sindh and asked the
Government of Sindh itself to shift to Hyderabad. When the Sindhis asked for at
least compensation for the loss of Karachi, they were told that it was a
“conquered territory”, for which there could be no compensation. When Khuhro
protested, they just dismissed him. In his place they brought in a spineless man,
Pir Illahi Bux. This puppet promptly made Urdu compulsory in Sindh.
When Syed Ali Akbar Shah, Sindh Muslim League President, led a Sindhi
deputation to Liaqat Ali to urge protection for Sindhi culture, the latter remarked:
“What is Sindhi culture, except driving donkeys and camels?” This same Liaqat
Ali invited all the Indian Muslims to Pakistan when he said it was good enough
for all the ten crore Muslims.
India drafted its constitution in three years; Pakistan under Liaqat did not do so
even in six years. In view of his pro- refugee and anti-local policies, some Punjabi
politicians and officials united to bump him off. Soon after partition, the Punjab,
NWFP, and Baluchistan banned further entry of refugees. But refugees have been
allowed to flood into Sindh all through. This is an intolerable situation.
Even in the British days an officer posted in Sindh had to learn Sindhi within six
months. But now this rule has been waived. The Governor, the Chief Secretary,
the lnspector-General of Police and most other senior officers in Sindh are non-
Sindhis, who refuse to learn Sindhi. If the refugees settled in Sindh persist in
refusing to learn Sindhi, they will deserve to be disfranchised.
In pre-partition Sindh, Hindus had come to acquire 30 lakh acres of land over a
period of 100 years, and the Muslims resented that; but the refugees have
grabbed 60 lakh acres in a fraction of that time.
Hundreds of crores of rupees have been gifted away or loaned to the refugees to
set up industry, carry on trade, build houses. None of this is available to the
Sindhis. The Sindhis have less than 3 per cent jobs in the government of Pakistan.
(The joke in Pakistan is that it was established by the Sunnis, so that the Shias ---
of UP etc. may rule it, for the benefit of the Ahmediyas of Qadian, who have
since been proclaimed as non- Muslims.)
The refugee leaders have been obliterating old Sindhi names and substituting
new ones for them. (In Karachi, the ancient Ram Bagh has been renamed Aram
Bagh --- and Achal Singh Park, as Iqbal Park.) On the other hand, foreign names
have not been replaced in Sindh. For example, we still have Jacobabad, named
after Gen. Jacob who had conquered Sindh with Napier. However, in the Punjab,
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