Rights for Sindh

While our attention has been fixated on the coronavirus pandemic and the usual dallying by the government, a new crisis had emerged revealing that thousands of people have been receiving fake and completely bogus domiciles of Sindh.

These reports first emerged on mainstream media but are now a trend on social media. It was revealed that several candidates belonging to Punjab received bogus domiciles in Sindh to pass their CSS exams on reserved quota and gain lucrative bureaucratic jobs. This is just the tip of the iceberg as for years, and rather unsurprisingly, people have often come to get fake domiciles without any proof of recent residency or family linkages for study, work and voting purposes.

Chief Secretary Sindh took notice of the incident and formed a committee to investigate the matter. The issue comes as no surprise and many political parties and Sindhi nationalist groups have been fighting for years that the jobs of the people of Sindh are being taken away. These groups are now disorganized and split into factions and their effectiveness to bring change has been diluted.

Sindh nationalism is based on the principle that ethnic people of Sindh have first right over the resources of the province. GM Syed is regarded as the founder of modern Sindh nationalism, whose 25^th death anniversary was marked on April 25. According to Syed, anyone who came to Sindh from beyond its borders is an intruder and has no right over local resources.

Syed showed an aversion to parliamentary politics after the 1971 election and the Dhaka debacle and discouraged his followers from entering parliament, rending them as a pressure group rather than a party. The movement for the rights of Sindh weakened after his passing as factions and other nationalist parties were marred by infighting, incompetent leaders while some chose the dangerous path of separatism.

The current scenario in which the rights of the Sindhis are been usurped was prophesized by Allah Buksh Soomro, the first democratically elected premier of Sindh. He was regarded as the apostle of secular harmony and his stance on anti-communalism gave him legendary status in Sindh. He became a martyr to the cause and is regarded as the ideological father of Sindhi nationalism. I write to exemplify that being a proud descent of Allah Buksh, it is also my responsibility to fight for the rights of Sindh.

For years, the people of Sindh have been facing poverty, unemployment and injustice. They are deprived from admissions in public universities and jobs and there has been no leadership to look towards in times of distress. These nationalist parties have failed to capture control from the PPP which has ruled for the past twelve years while there has been no coherent policy for Sindh by other parties.

There have been attempts to portray this crisis as an ethnic issue but I would delve into it as the main focus is those who gain fake domiciles while coming from other provinces. There should be no objection to moving from within the province as you are a resident of Sindh. There should be a thorough and transparent inquiry and all bogus domiciles should be revoked and disciplinary action should be taken. We need to stand up for our rights before they are completely taken away and there is no one to fight for us.