This Pyre Will Burn…!

For the sake of Sindhis and Pakistan, let's hope predictions here don't come true.

Speaking of Sindhi 'nationalism' in the same breath as Bengali and Balochi nationalisms seems like a huge overreach. This pyre is unlikely to have enough fire, at least for Sindhis as a separate group. And that's for the good of everybody.

I do not agree with the thesis wnhile ostensibly many things seem to be true. For example, there is no doubt about, antiPunjab, anti-Pakistan, and anti-non-sindhi-settlers attitude and how they have magnified after the assasination and how they are going to be exploited and cultivated further.

But the contradictions lie with in sindh as well. There is no doubt that after 1971 debacle the sole purpose of PPP has been to safeguard the interests of feudal lords and Pirs. The fiefdoms of PIrs and feudals rein in the rural areas where human beings live at the cusp of being animals and humans. This is their vote bank; and it is controlled by a lethal combination of a very corrupt police, court, and land management system.

This Pir and feudal class have on their payroll a so called leftist intellectul cadre who works for them in controlling the the urban vote. Unfortunately, sindh is dominated by two classes of feudal & pirs - one class is the traditional feudals and pirs who inherit their fiefdom like bhuttos, Pagaras, etc. whose ancestors became khan bahdurs as a reward for turning renegades on their own people by siding with British occupation. The second class of feudals is the MQM whose leader likes to be addressed as pir; this is in fact a mafia that operates on the principles of feudal fiefdoms and demands loyalty at par with Pir-dom.

Now the contradiction is that that in order to control their own masses they need help from a Punjabi military which is the Ober-mafia and controls these small time crooks and thugs. So I think the feudals and Pirs will bust their asses to save their fiefdoms. That has already started happening when they chose Bilawal bhutto to use his inherited iconic stature to control the masses. The Pakistani media, which is owned and funded by these Pirs and feudals in the first place, is working on overdrive to cultivate another bhutto icon.

But the paradigm described above is the old order. The new order, which is emerging fast and engulfing the whole nation is the rise of an Islamist/anarchist insurgency which will settle at nothing but delivering death sentence to all those who have wronged Pakistan. Even the fouji government admits that there is a "hit list". That is the new order.

balochistan: check
NWFP: check
Sindh: check

Pakistan banega Afghanistan..and that would be a step up.

HP Mian:

You can write as many obtituary of Pakistan as you wish, like this one.

Today's times are not for successionist. Only exception to this rule will be if it can divide terror and weaken it.

Bhutto's last days rambling letter is a better history of him, than what you have presented here as analysis upon analysis.

Let me give you an alternative thesis.

Rest of the world needs Pakistan united. Until Pakistani Army gets the cancer of fundamentalism, and is rendered useless in fight against terror. There is no other love lost between the west and Pakistan. Don't start believing in your own propoganda.

Please put here, if you have an accurrate analysis to support or discard the above thesis. Not only me, but many in the corridors of power will like know what you have to say.

Till then keep coming up with recylces or useless analysis upon analysis.

Happy new year, HP sahib.

Ok Hamidm, you want me to claim responsibility, right?

Please go to my profile where Umme-Hassan's eyes see, where you're blind. This is from back in July.

It was not the Jamia Hafsa people, who never wanted it. They had said so all the time. It was their sympathizers ... those burqa clad girls' brothers. It appears their revenge is still not sated. I thought it had, but it hasn't. I don't think it will be sated for some time to come.

If you want to make peace, talk to Umme-Hassan. They haven't killed her yet. They can't.

Open your eyes.

I haven't read HP's article ... It would be the same old shit which HP propagates ... the Sindhi nationalism and anti-Islam trivializing. I don't want to read it, but I will read the interacts.

Sorry HP, but that's how it is.

HP, what is the participation of Sindhis in the Pak army? Why are Sindhis not attracted to the army like the pakhtuns are?

Paging Salim Chauhan... The dude here says you mohajir guys drove out the hinuds from sindhu... is that true?...

Yep - this Pyre will burn for a while...

Burn Baby Burn...

Will burn? It's already burning

here's the BBC video...there's a whole highway with burnt trucks.

http://tinyurl.com/2evd2v

Re: # 5

zeemaxullah,

....... i still want to see both hassan and his mother dead along with the other hassan breeders of jamia hafsa ...... okay, maybe not dead, but definitely sterlized so that they cnnot produce more vermin ........ sounds heartless ?.....of course, but guillotines are not any kinder .......

Saeen Adda

Happy New Year, wishing yo a prosperous 2008.

Re: # 10

whoa - massive destruction... wow - pakis have gone berserk in aftermath of BB murder....

any case - happy new year pakis and good luck... you need it... :) ...

isn't 300billion paki rs about 5billion $ even though the paki rupee is the only currency doing worse than the $$?

That's almost half of the 10 billion $ from Uncle Sam for bombing pakis...

Pak suffers loss of Rs 300bn after Benazir’s killing

ISLAMABAD: A cabinet meeting was told on Monday that the country had suffered a total loss of Rs 300 billion of which banks suffered an estimated loss of Rs 100 billion, Online reported.

Tariq Ali's glimmer of hope that PPP might reorganize on new lines is already dashed.
After reading Tariq's article and before the news of PPP's decision, I have written. "... I had myself tried to see what hope, if any, is left, Tariq Ali’s article does show a glimmer in the shape of PPP reorganizing on new lines. But taking a closer look on the nature of forces working in that ambience, chances of that happening is a big if. A big cloud hangs over PPP if democratic principles are not upheld because of Benazir’s will which is not opened yet. Regardless, Tariq Ali had pointed to the right direction: the only hope lies in the people organizing through democratic institutions. But forces against progress and humanity are rampant and unbridled. Will this little seedling survive?
Hope is …. that tune which never stops at all”.
And then following were my sentiments before I read H P's "This Pyre will Burn"
"It is no more relevant what flaws personally Benazir had. What is relevant is to recognize how vicious, wicked and ruthless the enemies of people are and how fixedly they are determined to destroy any possibility of growth of even a semblance of progress. It is a simplistic view to see Benazir being murdered only because she was aligned with America. Her murder closes a chapter in the history of Pakistan and opens a new possibly bloodier and more tragic phase. Maybe it is time to start having a closer look into the basis of all that. There is something rotten in the state of Pakistan, the only other country in the world created based on principles of religious faith in contrast to British Imperialists’ own proclaimed beliefs in the principles of theory of nationhood. Maybe we now should wake up to the history’s cruelest joke and grow up to face the ironic reality in the eyes. And may be then we can begin to see what is rotten in that pity state of Pakistan."

#1 Posted by Eklavya
“Speaking of Sindhi 'nationalism' in the same breath as Bengali and Balochi nationalisms seems like a huge overreach.”

Sindhi Nationalism is even stronger. First ZAB and then BB were able to put breaks on it not in ideological terms but by way denying them the political space. The Sindhi Nationalist movement already showed up when the PPP worker was chanting against the Punjab.

Narrow ideologies prosper when the space is limited for the broad and all encompassing debate. The Bhuttos had the lid on the narrow ideologies because they were popular and could talk in terms of long term broader alliance with the other provinces. Now, they are not there.

#2 Posted by Urstruly
“The new order, which is emerging fast and engulfing the whole nation is the rise of an Islamist/anarchist insurgency which will settle at nothing but delivering death sentence to all those who have wronged Pakistan.”

As usual this is a figment of your funny imagination. There was never going to be any Islamic insurgency in Sindh or in Pakistan. The only time the criminal insurgency, which you call Islamic insurgency, prospered was when you were following the call of Marde momin to Kabul. There is no public demand for the Islamic insurgency in Pakistan. That movie had since flopped and no one wants to play it any more. Maybe you wanna hire another Sutlan Rahi or Zia Ul Haq.

#4 Posted by anil

As usual I can only read the first line of your post. After that, I lose patience for nonsense!

#6 Posted by zeemax

Hehehehe….

#7 Posted by Ranjit
Sindhi in army?
Negligible!

“Why are Sindhis not attracted to the army like the pakhtuns are?”

Long story! to make it short, the British army never recruited in Sindh and even if they had, they would not have found many idiots to hire. The real reason: I think historically Sindhis have an aversion to the army. However, the army is able to recruit more conscripts recently due to growing poverty in the countryside. The educated Sindhis never bother about the army career.

Schootia_1
“Pak suffers loss of Rs 300bn after Benazir’s killing”

Hmmm... Can afford it! We still don't have 700 mil squatters.

HP: What are the socio-economic structures of Sindhi nationalism? Who are the leaders and organizations? What is MQM's relations to these things? If you are a thoughtful analyst you should put these forward. You should do the same for Balochi nationalism. Make it good.

#15 Posted by quin

“Tariq Ali's glimmer of hope that PPP might reorganize on new lines is already dashed.”

The PPP is what it is. It is not going to reorganize on any new lines. Political parties like the PPP change based on how militant the workers get. The PPP worker pretty much forced Benazir to run away from Musharaf even though she had come to the country with high hopes of working with Musharaf.

She had lost any hope of reconciliation on arrival in Karachi. I don’t know the timing of her email to Mark Siegel but that surely suggests that she was getting ready to take on Musharaf contrary what the US was thinking.

Otoh, she was a classical example of political double dealing. She knew she would not be able to work with Musharaf but she still took the deal hoping to renege on it at the right time. Musharaf too had the same thing in mind.

When it became apparent that the US brokered deal would not help the WOT she was toast. Think about the WOT as one way of the army enterprise or the Military Inc. in Pakistan making money. The US continues the WOT and its minions make money. BB was going to take an active role in WoT. I don’t know what was promised to her.

Tariq Ali is not consistent in his writings. I guess when writing for newspapers, magazines and the Net becomes someone’s bread and butter, that person would tend to write for an audience.

“What is relevant is to recognize how vicious, wicked and ruthless the enemies of people are and how fixedly they are determined to destroy any possibility of growth of even a semblance of progress.”

This is apt. I think you need to think in terms of not people but the powerful groups in Pakistan. Right now no one is worried about the People. The issue clearly is who makes more money out of the WOT. Just the army or will it share it with some influential civilians such as ….. you fill in the blanks.

“Her murder closes a chapter in the history of Pakistan and opens a new possibly bloodier and more tragic phase.”

Pakistani game or shall I say the army game always was to take advantage of its geographical and strategically position. Apparently, now they are caught up in this game and cannot get out of this. Meaning the people of Pakistan would pay a heavy price of what is happening out there.

“There is something rotten in the state of Pakistan, the only other country in the world created based on principles of religious faith in contrast to British Imperialists’ own proclaimed beliefs in the principles of theory of nationhood.”

There is never anything rotten in any State. It is all about which groups control the State. If there is no proper system of rotation, the groups try and hang on to the privileges by all means.
Yours is an interesting post. It is New Years Eve and I got hit the party circle. If I am okay in the morning, I will write more about your post.

#17 Posted by Matrix

I would love to respond to your post. But not now. I got to run my wife is already screaming!

#16 Posted by HP,

Hmmm... Can afford it! We still don't have 700 mil squatters.

LoL. Just for this HP Saeen, sab kaha suna muaaf!

Pakistan will come out of this with flying colours, I have no doubt, just as it came out of so many other tumultuous setbacks.

HP, I'm surprised, this is actually an informative article. Can you tell me, did Benazir herself actually speak any Sindhi or any other local languages other than Urdu?
But cheer up, Pakistan will make it.

700 million squatters, does that mean only 400 million Indians are there legitimately?
puzzled smiley

#21 Posted by nb,

nb, no. Benazir didn't know a word of Sindhi.

I saw the Zardari press conference. Do see it on pkpolitics.com and have to admit was very impressed. He said that people who say Punjabi na Khapey, Pakistan na Khapey are all wrong. He said that the 20 people who died with Benazir were all Punjabis, who had volunteered to be her guards, and had jumped at the first gunshot and surrounded her vehicle to protect her, and were blown apart. He said that all those people became his friends during his eight years in jail, and not during when he was in power. They didn't want anything from him, and did it for a Sindhi family ... Bhutto.

He was right. Benazir herself had said in many interviews that Punjab WAS itself the federation of Pakistan. It was the only people who were not ethnically oriented sub-nationalists.

After that press conference, I believe naming of Bilawal is the correct move, because he was tutored by his mother, in the mould of his grandfather, who were both great icons of politics of federation.

Makhdoom Amin Fahim was visibly peeved, but he will be consoled since he is given the Prime Ministerial candidacy. However, Amin Fahim is a Sindhi nationalist with little credibility outside Sindh, and that wouldn't have been good for the party or Pakistan.

Just as it became clear in 1965, that Pak Army was more interested in gaining Kashmir than losing Bengal, you can today see that since 1979, Pak Army has been more interested in gaining Afghanistan than losing Sindh. Life is a question of making choices, peepul, choices and Pak Army is making them for you. Who else will do it if not them? Bhago hindoo aaya.

HP Sahib,
Thank you for presenting the aboriginal view of what happened to Sindh. :) I hate to be disrespectful but your information is presented in a very one-sided manner and full of unsubstantiated and malicious allegations. If arriving immigrants were the ones who displaced the Hindus, don't you think that they would have taken over the vast lands and become Vaderas themselves? After all, many of the arriving Mohajirs were themselves zamindars in India.

Anyway, the destruction wrought upon Pakistan by PPP and its supporters has been quite catastrophic. If I were Mushy, I would round up all the PPP leaders and put them in jail until they reimburse all the victims for their substantial losses. The PPP will go down in Paki history as the most criminal and destructive disaster to hit our poor country.

Re: # 23 zee
[..Benazir didn't know a word of Sindhi...]

Then what the heck is this fool HP blabbering about... this guy is a empty vessel loud mouth or what?

HP and Hypo Chacha Al Butteesi,

Both of you are going around posting vicious and malicious disinformation accusing Mohajirs of killing and driving out Hindus from Sindh.

From the Bina Shah article, I am posting Tigram's comment about the events of '47 - Tigram's background is that of a Baluchi Hindu and I appreciate his decency in speaking the truth:

{"{"#15 Posted by Tigram on December 30, 2007 9:11:05 pm
Re: # 14 i think you have a point .Compare Punjab in 1947 with Sindh.The Punjabis on both sides Indian and Pakistan made sure that all Hindus or Muslims or Sikhs were killed down to not yet born babies while Sindh was peaceful.Very few Hindus migrated from Sindh."}

Tigram friend,
Will you please let Hypo Chacha Al Butteesi know about this? He is going around posting disinformation that immigrants from India arrived in Sindh to loot and kill Hindus in Sindh. Thank you for stating that you are a Baluchi Hindu - I am pleased to learn about your background and thankful that not everything is lost in Pakistan. I feel that the departure of Hindus was the main tragic catalyst that removed our diversity and made us all look alike and at each other's throats."}

HP,
I remember women of my extended family in Karachi always interested in teaching Sindhi girls and boys of their servants how to read and write. This was done in spite of the parents, especially the men. They felt that teaching girls to read and write would make it hard for them to get married. :(
If Mohajirs really hated Sindhis, then these Mohajir women would never force education on their Muslim sisters. I am sure that the Mojo women had better things to do - beauty salons, bridge games, or their favorite pastime - gossip.

Why do I want to say that the real enemies of the Sindhis were and are their own cruel exploiters - the Sindhi Vaderas?

HP sain,

You have captured the Sindhi grievances very well but regardless of how aggrieved they are they will never be able to get rid of Pakistan unless like the Bengalis a neighbour (India) steps. But given the nuke situation, it is unlikely.

However, your opening line was amazing. Like a fast bowler opening the bowling with a googly (although I understand a certain Keith Miller often began with one)

(The people who killed Benazir have perhaps killed Pakistan too)

We have heard this before: Indira is India, India is Indira. The truth is that India with its myriad problems is a far stronger country than it was on Oct 30, 1984 ie the day before she was bumped off.

HP sain, we expect the chowk's best intellectuals to not stoop themselves to the levels of Dev Kant Barooahs!!!

Regards

#29 Posted by majumdar,

Thanks for saying that.

Thanks HP for your important article as you have broken the silence of existing resentment of Sindhi Nation in existing federation.Sindh houses two nationalities in large arid area devoid of water except Sindhu river mainly. Two nations in two different social , economic stagees and going along tensely.
You have correctly said the loss of middle class of Sindh and self inflicted wounds by Sindhi leadership and for not having ability to what they are doing. GM sayed was first proponent of Pakistan and passed resolution. One should ask carefully as some time you get what you want and hurt yourself.Karachi itself was almost 50% hindu and last mayor was hindu. This cleansing was done and then replaced by Hindustani Muslims who had no interest in sindhis or culture or ethos of sindh.Things which are not moral are not natural are not good for society they willingly welcomed gutting the intelligence class.( Incidently Sindhi Chief Minister understood this loss of educated at that time and he went out in Karachi with Pistul in hand to protect frightened hindus and stalling departure but he was fired by QAMA Jinnah).Printing presses , newspapers, book publishers, schools were mainly managed by these people and Sindhis did nothing to make them secure. They were complicit in crime of removing millions of people by fanatics. Then it exactly happened like nazi germany , educated jews left for usa, uk and in long term german people suffered as intelluctiuals help and give courage to society to protect culture and they have intelligence to comprehend the things changing ang they have brains and wrists to resist physical and social aggression. As hindus left grid , jalousy and envy of centuries blinded them. It was easy way to not pay for Sheths for debts.History and time is never kind with people who make strategic mistakes. What left in Sindh was just basic extremely backward agricultural system fortified by harsh Feudal ethos where ideas of justice , liberty, equality and fair play does not exist. This slave landless people can not produce great wealth as backwardness pervades in every aspect of life. Harsh conditins and minimal agricultural outputs make life miserable. Sindhis made cardinal mistake of expelling educated class and became headless society of peasants and landlords , nature punished them naturally.
On this scene Hindustani muslims arrive in great numbers and displace locals , there is unity of new arrivals and drive of any new tribe arriving and conquring and dominating and they just replaced educated hindus with educated and determined to establis in new lands and master it. It was first time people from south moved north tp displace natives. Within short span Karachi was gone, then hyderbad and slowly one after another sindhi towns felled and replaced by Hindustani Muslims.
The Sindhis suffered extremely in every way but one can put plabe on Hindustani Muslims as they were welcomed in theory and they have leadership of movement. Hindustani muslims were victorious as sindhis just moved without any resitance. The sindhi leadership of landlord feduals were not wise to even understand what is happening. The Hindustani muslims established facts on ground they were the masters of new lands. They were better at politics as their leadership clealy understood politics as concentrated economics. The sindhi defeat was so fast and bad it is said or rumored L.A.Khan said what is Sindhi culture, driving camels and donkeys. This may not be true but Sindhis were so lowly considered by Hindustani muslims.
So sindh ( native sindhis) has suffered most after partition and will suffer as they made mistakes of not understanding.

It is not clear from article what this sindhi national aspirations want to day. What are goals and if so the ways to achieve it. Baloach leadership like Attaullah Mengal etc have well articulation of objectives , never head so clear articulation from even strong sindhi nationalist like Dr Magsi. Sindhi leadership does not know what they want exactly , how they want to react with urban dominant hindustani muslims of Karachi, hyderbad... Do they want seperate sindhi province devoid of urban areas ?
Sindhi nationalist will be always handicapped as till bhuttos dominate, they look at federal domination, they have no interest in poor landless sindhis, they just want poors as ladder to go to I-Bad they have interest of people who support them. Average sindhi is agonised what has happened to them but they have no leader to articulate their pain. Bhuttos in means nationalists out. It may take several decades for bottom sufferesto organise for rights ( first they have to come out of helplessness and overcome feudal overlords ), Then they will be unstoppable if they want little enclave or what they want. Sindhis are supporting Bhuttos and getting nothing in returns and glorify in their achievements but they have got nothing. Bhuttos are not with vision of Gandhi or Ho ChiMinh or mandela so without leader of vision sindhi masses will suffer as they are doing for centuries.
Moral Sindhi pain is do not make blunders and strategic mistakes they kill you.
Good afternoon

Ahmedmadani sahib,

Re: #31

As usual you have hit the bull's eye with your simple, uncomplicated and say it "as it is' style.

Regards

#31 Posted by ahmedmadani,

Great post, Sir.

Re: # 33 Zeemax sahib...I am little scared of you and your special French chopping machine.

Re: # 34 Again HP has done great work of putting pain of his people. I personally know the pathos of poor oppressed people. This thing really happened and when I think it brings tears to my eyes.

While visting Thatta for work came across poor fisherman a local sindhi. We talked little. Then he said what you do , I said work in big hotel. He asked me if I make food or what I do. I said look overall at all things and see it works 24 hours. Then he said honestly people from Karachi have spoiled sindh and sindhis have no good jobs there.He told me you should move back to Punjab or India.I asked him what his father did , he said catch fish. What your grand father did , again same think. Then I said look, you are right , but can you do my job he said no, he is not educated and does not know english. Then I told him look I did not take your job , or fathers or grandfathers job. When your child becomes educated ready to take my job we will depart. I told him , understand anguish.
There is extreme resentment of native Sindhis and haatred aginst Punjabis. There are one most backward and oppressed people of pakistan. There is belief outsiders are taking advantage of sindh and they are left out like red Indians. I will not comment if I agree but illusions real or false are more powerful and motivationg than truth. But with PPP sindhileadership there is no salvation and to achieve at least parity they will have to wait till they get proper leadership with vision. ( present sindhi leadership survives he will suffer)

HP Saeen,

Can you kindly define Sindhi. Speaking the language is the only criteria or do you have to determine hereditary roots? Would Sindhis of Baloch origin be considered Sindhi? How about those of Arab, Pathan, Punjabi, Greek, Turkish, Persian, Maurya, Dravidian and Aryan?

Eagerly waiting for your reply.

Sincerely yours

#34 Posted by ahmedmadani,

Sir, I just renounced extreme measures on UP.

These are very sad times for the Pakistan. To quote one of Pakistan's poet Tegh Allahabadi

Is naye desh ke ajnabi rastay,
Kitne tareeq, kitne pur-asraar hain.

Aaj to jaise vehshi qabeelay yahan,
Kissi naye admi ke lahoo ke liye,
Apne jismo pe raakh,
Mal kar nikal aye hain.

Chubh raha hai ankhon me, Kaseela dhuan,
Choo rahi hain, jism ko kunaq-sooyian
Har taraf teergi, teergi, teergi
Jindagi aaj tun kis taraf aa gayee

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

Dear HP and Friends,
Happy New Year!
Yes I agree that the pyre will burn, but not only in Sindh but entire Pakistan. This cursed garrison city has eaten up three prime ministers and there is lots of empericism here. But also know that the site of her death is crowded by candle and incense vigils day in day out. For every pyre that smoulders, there is also a candle that burns.

Benazir though Sindhi was by all accounts a patriotic Pakistani and a true representative of the federation. That was her strenght on which, she has a solid following in all parts of Pakistan. If there is a transformation, then the fear is that the rudderless PPP may reduce itself to become an ethnic party and that will be the end. Already men like Aitezaz who did not want to hob nob with the government are proved right. Like any individual, Benazir found it hard to break away from the fuedal mind set, even at the cost of losing her mother and Murtaza's family.I had wished against hope that her will would spell some accomodation for the other Bhuttos too, but ungracefully, that was not to be.

Since perceptions count more than reality, yes some may try playing the Sindh Card. I believe, this card belongs to a small educated elite. As for haris and peasants, they are still in the strong grips of fuedals like Mehars, Pagaras, Jhkaranis etc. They dont understand a hang about nationalism.

As for Punjabies etc dying for Benazir? Well they did in Karachi as well as Rawalpindi. These eyes saw men pouncing the clean shaved assasin and getting blown up. The scene is also clearly visible in the second and third picture in my gallery.

As to what comes next, I commented on another board as under: -
"The day Bhutto died was a rejoinder that Pakistan cannot be run by independant minded Pakistanis.It was also a reminder that those who helped create it, will also charter our course in future".
Cheerios



As for Sindies in the armed forces/ There are many now.

Zeemax,
I will upload a photo of a sindhi soldier who died at Kargil on the gallery of BB. Please paste it here if possible.

Benazir or musharraf...just a different leash for the same raggedy old dog...


‘Benazir distanced herself from deal’


By Our Correspondent


WASHINGTON, Dec 31: Before her death, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had distanced herself from a US-brokered power-sharing deal between her and President Pervez Musharraf, The Washington Post reported on Monday.

According to veteran Post journalist Robert D. Novak, Ms Bhutto had sent a written complaint to a senior State Department official saying that her camp no longer viewed the backstage US move as a good-faith effort towards democracy.

Instead, it was seen as an attempt to preserve the politically endangered Mr Musharraf as US President George W. Bush’s man in Islamabad, she wrote.

Since her return to Pakistan on Oct 18, Ms Bhutto sent several urgent pleas to the State Department, seeking US assistance for better protection.

The US reaction was that she was worried over nothing, expressing assurance that President Musharraf would not let anything happen to her.

Distraught by the lack of US interests in her protection, Ms Bhutto began to distance herself from the US-backed power-sharing arrangement, the Post said.

The US decision to arrange a Bhutto-Musharraf alliance was based on Pakistan’s strategic importance as a sanctuary for Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

“Bush was in a quandary. Bhutto was much tougher than Musharraf on Islamist extremists, but Bush had invested heavily in the general,” the Post observed.

Ms Bhutto was further disillusioned when President Musharraf imposed a state of emergency on Nov 3, but US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice telephoned and urged her to go along with that process in return for concessions from Mr Musharraf.

“Bhutto agreed, but she got nothing in return,” the Post noted.

The report said that the unsuccessful Oct. 18 attempt on Ms Bhutto’s life followed Islamabad’s rejection of her requested security protection when she returned from eight years in exile. The Pakistani government vetoed FBI assistance in investigating the attack.

On Oct 26, Ms Bhutto sent an email to Mark Siegel, her friend and Washington spokesman, to be made public only in the event of her death.

“I would hold Musharraf responsible,” Ms Bhutto said in the message. “I have been made to feel insecure by his minions.”

In early December, a former Pakistani government official supporting Ms Bhutto visited a senior US government official to renew her security requests.

“He got a brush off, a mindset reflected Dec 6 at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing,” the report said.Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, was asked to respond to fears by non-partisan American observers of a rigged election.

His reply: “I do think they can have a good election. They can have a credible election. They can have a transparent and a fair election. It’s not going to be a perfect election.”

“Boucher’s words echoed through corridors of power in Islamabad,” the Post noted.

“Neither her shooting on Thursday nor the attempt on her life Oct 18 bore the trademarks of Al Qaeda,” the report said, urging the US administration to send an FBI to probe the murder.

whoa...I totally didn't expect this from the paki government..why would they do something like this? it just gives people who hate the land of the pure and hate islam question their motives.

Doctors Cite Pressure to Keep Silent On Bhutto

By Emily Wax and Griff Witte
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, January 1, 2008; Page A01

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan, Dec. 31 -- Pakistani authorities have pressured the medical personnel who tried to save Benazir Bhutto's life to remain silent about what happened in her final hour and have removed records of her treatment from the facility, according to doctors.

In interviews, doctors who were at Bhutto's side at Rawalpindi General Hospital said they were under extreme pressure not to share details about the nature of the injuries that the opposition leader suffered in an attack here Dec. 27.

"The government took all the medical records right after Ms. Bhutto's time of death was read out," said a visibly shaken doctor who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Sweating and putting his head in his hands, he said: "Look, we have been told by the government to stop talking. And a lot of us feel this is a disgrace."

The doctors now find themselves at the center of a political firestorm over the circumstances of Bhutto's death. The government has said Bhutto, 54, was killed after the force of a suicide bombing caused her head to slam against the lever of her vehicle's sunroof. Bhutto's supporters have pointed to video footage, including a new amateur video released Monday, as proof that she was killed by gunfire.

The truth about what happened has serious implications in Pakistan. The ability of a gunman to fire at Bhutto from close range, as alleged by her supporters, would suggest that an assassin was able to breach government security in a city that serves as headquarters of the Pakistani military, bolstering her supporters' claims that the government failed to provide her with adequate protection.

If a gunman were to blame, it would also raise questions as to why the government has for days insisted otherwise. Bhutto's supporters have called for an international investigation.
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The government has repeatedly dismissed allegations of a coverup, and some U.S. medical experts, when asked Monday to review an official hospital description of her wounds, speculated that a skull fracture and not a bullet wound killed Bhutto.

The medical personnel in Rawalpindi, meanwhile, have mostly remained quiet.

"Our doctors have become caught up in this very emotional and political issue," said Fayyaz Ahmed Khan, the doctors' supervisor at Rawalpindi General. "It's a terrible position for our medical professions to be in."

A newly released video that was obtained by Britain's Channel 4 and broadcast Monday cast doubt on the government's claims and appeared to corroborate witnesses' stories. The footage appeared to show a gunman and a suspected suicide bomber approaching Bhutto's sport-utility vehicle. Seconds later, the video showed gunfire and Bhutto's hair and scarf being blown back just as a bomb explodes.

Government officials identified Baitullah Mehsud, a pro-Taliban commander in the restive South Waziristan region, as the organizer of Bhutto's killing. But some observers said the government has been too quick to blame the attack on the Taliban.

Jameel Yusuf, a lead investigator in the 2002 disappearance of American journalist Daniel Pearl in Karachi, said the Pakistani government had blundered badly by not sealing off the crime scene. Moments after Bhutto was killed, workers hosed down the blood at the blast site before any evidence could be collected.

"When you're dealing with a murder of this nature, you need to have forensics," Yusuf said.

Several witnesses say they had yet to be interviewed by police.

Kamran Nazir, 19, was badly injured by shrapnel at the rally where Bhutto was killed. On Monday, he was at Rawalpindi General, with his father at his bedside. His breathing was labored, and the top layer of skin on his face was singed off. He said he was shocked that police had not questioned him.

"Why is no one asking me what happened? It's important to know the truth," he said as his father's eyes went wet.

"The truth is, there really is no investigation at all," said Babar Awan, a top official in Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party who said he saw Bhutto's body after the attack and identified two clearly defined bullet wounds -- entry and exit points.

He said that the principal professor of surgery at the hospital, Muhammad Mussadiq Khan, was "extremely nervous, but eventually told me that Bhutto had died of a bullet wound."

"Why was this man so nervous?" Awan said. "He told me firsthand he was under pressure not to talk about how she died."

Reached at his home in Islamabad, Khan declined to comment, saying he worked for a government hospital and was trying to "do my duty and remain a doctor." In published reports in the English-language newspaper Dawn, Khan has changed his story on multiple occasions, first speaking about bullet wounds and later backing away from those comments.

Over the weekend, Athar Minallah, a board member at Rawalpindi General, e-mailed journalists Bhutto's medical report. The report, which was separate from documents that doctors say have been confiscated, describes a deep wound in Bhutto's head that was leaking brain matter.
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No "foreign body" was found in the wound, the report says, and no exit wound was recorded. But in an X-ray of Bhutto's skull, the doctors identified "two to three tiny radio-densities." Minallah said in an interview that the report suggested those were bullet fragments.

U.S. medical experts said the "radio-densities" were probably not bullets.

Thomas M. Scalea, physician in chief of the shock trauma center at the University of Maryland Medical Center, said that while there was no evidence of a bullet wound, he was also perplexed by how the blunt force of Bhutto's head against an object could have caused brain damage severe enough to kill her so quickly.

"The whole thing strikes me as very unusual," said Scalea.

Bhutto's widower and the interim leader of her party, Asif Ali Zardari, has requested an investigation into her death by the United Nations.

President Pervez Musharraf's spokesman, retired Gen. Rashid Qureshi, said Musharraf is "considering" an offer from the British government to assist in an investigation. Qureshi said Bhutto's husband bore responsibility for the controversy, because he had denied the government permission to conduct an autopsy immediately after Bhutto's death, on the grounds that it could not be trusted.

"The body can be exhumed now if the family allows," Qureshi said. "There's no problem with that."

Witte reported from Karachi. Special correspondent Imtiaz Ali in Peshawar and staff writer Jason Ukman and staff researcher Robert E. Thomason in Washington contributed to this report.

Here is a part of my ilog.

Sometime in 1988, I read the book, 'Pawn to King Three' written by Mehmood Sipra. Like a Sidney Sheldon thriller, it was set in the background of Pakistani politics. The central character built around a celebrity like Imran meets a tragic end like Benazir.
How prophetic, but for the gender?

the paki rupee is at 61.95 against the greenback..it would be lower if the paki government hadn't intervened.

the indian rupee is 39.41 and would be stronger if the government hadn't intervened.


pureland is not even playing the same game as india, forget about being in the same league..

smart move pal...even pakis are not that stupid..

Caretaker govt apologises for Interior Ministry’s blunder

By Shaheen Sehbai

ISLAMABAD: The caretaker government of Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro on Monday apologised for the highly provocative comment made by the Interior Ministry spokesman that late PPP leader Benazir Bhutto had died because she hit the lever of her bullet-proof Land Cruiser on the fateful evening.

At a high-powered briefing to newspaper editors invited from all over the country, Interior Minister Lt General (retd) Hamid Nawaz asked the media and the people to forgive and ignore the comment made by spokesman Brig (retd) Cheema, which caused a huge uproar, as private TV channels obtained footage, showing the assassin pointing the gun at the PPP leader and shooting it.

The briefing by caretaker Prime Minister Mohammed Mian Soomro, was attended by his foreign minister, his interior minister and the information minister besides senior officials.

Editor after editor lambasted the government for its non-serious attitude towards the tragedy, specially the statement that Benazir Bhutto had died by hitting the lever and not by a bullet or a sharpnel.

Soomro first tried to defend the Interior Ministry spokesman, saying he was just relating the facts which had been told to him, specially about the cause of death. “We are conducting an investigation and all TV footage, all evidence, that would be available will help in reaching a definite conclusion,” Soomro said.

Re: # 16 HP

Denial won't make things go away. There was a life in Pakistan before Islamabad School massacre and there is a life after the massacre. The sooner the corrupt, pro-western, ruling elite recognizes that guillotines have already been set up (they are operating and are not going to go away) the sooner they will be able to save their collective behinds (or should I say necks).

HAHAHA...even the jihadi dude is calling for an independent investigation..


Pro-Taliban militants want Bhutto killing probed

By IANS
Monday December 31, 07:49 PM

Islamabad, Dec 31 (DPA) Pro-Taliban militants Monday demanded an independent inquiry into the assassination of Pakistan opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, according to a local media report.

The pro-democracy icon, 54, was killed last Thursday in a gun-and-suicide bomb attack that government officials claim was carried out by the followers of Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the newly formed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) (Taliban Movement Pakistan).

'The government is carrying out a propaganda campaign against Baitullah Mehsud and the Taliban is unfairly being alleged for the attack,' the militant group's spokesman Maulvi Omar told the BBC's Urdu service by telephone from undisclosed location.

He said any independent inquiry that was free from US and British influence would be acceptable for them.

Bhutto's murder was a great national tragedy and therefore an independent inquiry should be held, he added.

Re: Salim Chauhan, HP, AhmadMadani, etc.

A general response to some of your posts.

My mother's family had a city house in Karachi for years before Partition and there were no riots/pogroms against the Hindus (who were virtually the entire Sindhi educated/professional class other than the odd Muslim and a few Parsis) until the Muhjirs came to Karachi and ethnically cleansed the Hindus (with some help from a few Sindhis).

Mobs of Muhajirs almost literally chased the Hindus out of Karachi and took over their homes. My Nana had to hire extra chowkidars when some Muhajirs, who had taken over the neighbours' homes, started eyeing his house. A couple of his neighbors had locked their house and given my Nana the keys for safekeeping but the Muhajir squatters broke the locks and took over the houses. The stupid Hindus, like some stupid Punjabi Muslims such as some of my Father's family, had thought that they could come back when it all blew over.

There were quite a few Hindus in and near my Nana's village and the men came to my Nana and asked him to protect their women and children while the men went to India to make arrangements for them. Most of these men, IIRC--been years since I heard the story from my Nani, were banias (small shopkeepers/slash moneylenders) and some of the local Sindhis wanted to wipe the slate clean of their debts and earn a nice reward by pillaging the homes and jewellery. Nana had to post guards on the houses to protect them.

I have vague memories of my Nana and from his portraits he looks like the epitome of the late Edwardian gentleman; as was shown by his conduct during Partition.

==========

There are quite a few Sindhis in the Army now; the Sindhi quota in the Sind Regiment is almost fully utilized now (initially would have been lucky to find 10-15% Sindhis) and a couple of years ago, playing golf at the Garrison Golf Club in Lahore, I was surprised to realize that the men of the Baluch battalion doing fatigues there were Sindhi; their battalion was about 25% Sindhi. Its been a long time since I was 'up' on the Army so I can't tell you how many Sindhis there are in the Army and how many in the officer corps but the situation now is NOT what it was in the 1970s. I had several Mamoos in the Army (and one joined the Air Force for a few years) but the Sindhi/Baluchi quota was always unfilled. However, Lt. Gen Balock, former Corp Commander and then Governor of Baluchistan, was an ethnic Baloch.

==================

Benazir spoke abysmal Urdu and worse Sindhi when she came back to Pakistan in 1986. I heard her press conferences in Urdu and it was very clear that English was her first language. There are some sounds in Sindhi that non-Native speakers find extremely difficult to make (e.g. a nasalized B IIRC) and BB could not manage them properly.

That's really rich - taliban asking for independent investigation.. :)

HP Sahib, there is little that I can disagree with in this

writing. The Bast_rds that killed her knew exactly what

they were doing.

"The people who killed Benazir have perhaps killed Pakistan too."

It would be really sad if these SOB's were allowed to win.

But I am just a so called "Mohajir" who has run out

of ideas to counter this devastating blow to the country.

I will follow the direction that Sindhis take from here on.


Ras

The attempt to paint the Muhajirs as the villains of the piece seems entirely wrong-headed. Nature merely followed its course.

A more intelligent, more aware, more committed species/group of humans came and displaced/took over the homes and the political space of less intelligent, less aware, and less committed species/groups of humans. Just as is steadily and inexorably happening today in the Eastern parts of India, to Bengali Hindus.

---------------

May be we are missing something, but Muslim Sindhi nationalism seems like an afterthought, a forgery almost. Mere Wadera (read Bhutto) worship combined with tons of hatred, resentment, jealousy, and superciliousness against other groups cannot be named nationalism.

There is Muslim nationalism. There is Pakistani nationalism. But there is no Muslim Sindhi nationalism. We are wasting our time discussing it.

Bhuttos, at their most radical, can be considered Pakistan's agents in Sindh. Nothing more.
---------

Sindhis are not Balochis, Bengalis, even Pakhtoons, let alone Muhajirs. Instead of getting distracted by all this talk of 'nationalism' Sindhis should dedicate themselves to serving Pakistan as a whole.

Re: # 46

urstruly,

.......oh, please! ... stop this nonsense about the islamabad school massacre - they were a bunch of murderous jihadis who held the world hostage for more than six months ........ they should have been taken out much much sooner and should all have been thrown into jail for life ...... as for your gullotines, i guess when you run out of live people you will resort to killing the dead :

Iraq suicide bomber hits funeral

A suicide bomber in Iraq has killed 30 people in an attack in the capital Baghdad, police reports say.

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

Ras: you are more than a "mohajir" - you are a Pakistani, and even more important a member of the emerging global middle class that is bound together with a common interest in the rule of law and in caring for people regardless of any superficial differences like race, ethnicity, religion etc. You have demonstrated this on chowk over the years, most recently in your efforts on behalf of mukhtaran mai.

As for Pakistan - it is SNAFU (Situation Normal: All F..ed Up), although no doubt this is about as bad as things have ever been in Pakistan. These are the times one falls back on the wisdom of the ages - i.e, it is darkest before the dawn. Pakistan will no doubt emerge from the difficulties of 2007 stronger than every before.

#25 salim yar...most of the mojos were salariyat..not that keen on doing farming. farming muslims stayed back..go to sahranpur and you will find them. and chasing hindu was part of the national ethos, vaderas were NOT hindus.

hope this esplanes things clearly.

Count on eternal bigots to turn everything in to mohajir-bashing. Is it any wonder that karachi vote the way that it does. lest we forget khi voted JI, PPP and JUP on for 40 yrs...so we didnt become disillusioned overnite...Yes i know we stole ur candy.....get over it...fact of the matter however is that most migrants came and stayed in refugee-camps in khi and built themselves and the city from ground up, i dont have to tell anyone who and what khi is n wat would it be without the contribution of the migrant community...i m sure qadir magsi would love nothing more feast on this pakka pakkaya halwa....hed be better advised to not hold his breath...just in case some moron brings it up if being port is the million dollar diff than gwadar would have fared a lil better as well

Re: # 52

bhole badsha, does it matter now if we label them aliens, Martians or jihadi terrorists? No. Guillotines now have their own momentum, own reason, and own objectives. But there is a way to make these guillotines go away - napak fouj must be sent back into its kennels, Americans and other neo-colonialist be told to fukk off, ousted judiciary should be re-instated, an election commission should be established under the supervision of those judges; and free and fair elections be held. I am willing to accept the same low lives, if get elected through a fair election commission, just to get things rolling ( and to keep the heads rolling out of guillotines).

#21 Posted by nb
Benazir learned to speak Sindhi on election trails. The third generation Bhuttos including the new Bhuttos don’t speak Sindhi. Fatima, ZAB Jr. and the new ones like Bilawal, and his sisters don’t speak Sindhi. Sindi is not a difficult language and they all will learn it. Knowing Sindhi language is not a prerequisite for being Sindhi. Sindhis speak Urdu, Saraiki, Balochi, Gujarati, Thari and many other languages.

#24 Posted by sadna

Welcome to this board.

“since 1979, Pak Army has been more interested in gaining Afghanistan than losing Sindh.”

If that keeps them away from Sindh, I would welcome that. The sad truth is that the Army would rather sacrifice Sindh than give up their Halwa Mandli that comes via Afghanistan!

#28 Posted by Salim_Chauhan

Disgusting posts as usual.

#29 Posted by majumdar

“Indira is India, India is Indira. The truth is that India with its myriad problems is a far stronger country than it was on Oct 30, 1984 ie the day before she was bumped off.”

Pakistan is not India. It is a different country and stretching what was said in India to Pakistan is just ridiculous. I have outlined several reasons in my article above. How those reasons match with any situation in India? Not even closely.

Pakis..relax...Zardari thinks things are looking up for pureland...he thinks pureland might become another somalia...which, the way things are going, is a few steps up.

Pakistan 'could be another Somalia'
By Saeed Shah in Naudero
Published: 01 January 2008

Asif Zardari, husband of murdered Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, has called for President Pervez Musharraf to resign and warned that the country could turn into another Somalia.

He also poured scorn on the government's claim that al-Qa'ida was behind the attack on Ms Bhutto. Instead he blamed "the establishment, which is bigger than Musharraf himself".

"I don't think we're as yet a threat to Al-Qa'ida. We weren't in government. Why aren't they killing off the existing structure of the government? Why would they come after us?" he said. "There are definitely some in-house games going on, which either nobody is aware of or are scared to unearth," he said, speaking from his wife's home in her ancestral village of Naudero, where he and the children continued to mourn her loss yesterday.

He said that the government's claims of al-Qa'ida involvement was simply "muddying the waters". He described Pakistan's role in the so-called war on terror, which he described as "shadow boxing". "That shadow-boxing is going to turn into a giant and take over the country one day," he said.

31 Posted by ahmedmadani
“It is not clear from article what this sindhi national aspirations want to day. What are goals and if so the ways to achieve it.”

That would require another article. Matrix asked a similar question. As I get time on some weekend, I will write another article to deal with those issues.

Thank you for remarks. But I have not tried to blame mohajirs. I have outlined reasons for the rise of Sindhi Nationalism. People need to address those reasons instead of making it a Sindhi-mohajir battleground.



#40 Posted by ijaz_gul

“Since perceptions count more than reality, yes some may try playing the Sindh Card. I believe, this card belongs to a small educated elite. As for haris and peasants, they are still in the strong grips of fuedals like Mehars, Pagaras, Jhkaranis etc. They dont understand a hang about nationalism.”

You are sadly stereotyping. I guess not learning about a province in your own country is just so pathetic. Knowing every thing about the international politics, Afghan crisis and Pakistan-India situation but not learning anything about people of your own country is something for people like you to think about.

“#48 Posted by fuzair

Thank you for you informative post. My intention was not to bring specific individual cases. I wanted to just show what happened how it happened and what the results of that arrogance and communal mindset are.

#50 Posted by Ras

You are fine. As long as you understand the issues that would surface after this murder, you will understand the shortsightedness and irrational behavior of the Pakistan Army.

#51 Posted by Eklavya

Your ramblings don’t make any sense. At least try and back up your stories. Stating universal truths does not make someone knowledgeable.

“Sindhis are not Balochis, Bengalis, even Pakhtoons, let alone Muhajirs. Instead of getting distracted by all this talk of 'nationalism' Sindhis should dedicate themselves to serving Pakistan as a whole.”

Is this some kind of suggestion that Sindhi are inferior people? Sounds like the typical behavior that I mentioned in my article.

The question is: even if you get a separate sindhu land - who is going to run it?... hinuds are long gone... muhajirs are hated ... the feudals are no good ...

HP,
You wrote,
"You are sadly stereotyping. I guess not learning about a province in your own country is just so pathetic. Knowing every thing about the international politics, Afghan crisis and Pakistan-India situation but not learning anything about people of your own country is something for people like you to think about".

I am sorry to say that you pass judgements instinctively. If you cared to see my profile, very recently I traversed and criss crossed 1,700Km on foot, camel and jeep, deep in the desert East of Mirpur, Sorah, Kipro and Hatangu. I assure you that I have seen much more of remote Sindh (where the reality lies and so do the haris of Sains)than you could dream of.

HP Mian:

Do you believe today's world, seccessionists have any chance?

One line at a time for HP Mian to accomodate the wishes.

Re: # 63

If mutually agreed - why not? that's the plan in Iraq, isn't it - to separate shia, sunni and kurd .... in tortured lands like pakiland and iraq- secession may be a good option...

Besides - paki army is considerably weaker now... it was the main force holding these people together... army is hated across the land these days...

The only reason people would be concerned about the split in pakiland is the nukes... but if the nukes can be secured and a peaceful separation plan can be enforced - it may work out for everybody...

#62 Posted by ijaz_gul

“very recently I traversed and criss crossed 1,700Km on foot, camel and jeep, deep in the desert East of Mirpur, Sorah, Kipro and Hatangu.”

That was not the point. My point was how much do you know about the people and their history. Measuring by just KMs, I have traveled more extensively in Pakistan, Including Balochistan, Sarhad and Kashmir right up to and beyond Hunza. I have put in more miles in India than mere 1700 KM. When you travel, you learn about peoples behavior and responses and not what they are. Reading about history, economic progress and social intercourse in the society helps you understand the people and what their aspirations are. That study in my opinion is more comprehensive than any travel.

Don’t get upset. By just equating all Sindh with a few feudal and their influence shows lack of knowledge. I expect Romair to go on this tangent as he has barely read anything about anything except the army. But I think you are better educated and have a better understanding of the socio-political issues. However, your remarks did not reflect that!

For instance, you mentioned small Sindhi middle class elite can you elaborate on who they are?

"Do you believe today's world, seccessionists have any chance?"
Secessionist availed a chance in 1947, they availed yet another in 1971 and that was near home. Try former Soviet Union and Check republic.

You are clearly intellectually challenged. I am not calling for succession.

#51 Eklayva,

Sindhi nationalism rose out of extreme resentment at the high-handed way they were treated in their own province after Partition. The Punjab govt stated outright they'd only take E. Punjabi refugees, no Muhajirs. Sind offered to take them all. Karachi was made the Federal Capital and hived off from Sind; Muhajirs moved right into the gap left by the forced of Hindus from Sind; more refugees from India were allowed into Sind when Liaquat Ali Khan opened the border at Khokrapar in order to allow them to move directly to Karachi.

If you actually look at Sind pre-Partition, it is an astonishing melting pot of ethnicities and cultures. Memons, Aga Khanis, Jews, Christians, etc. There were large Balochi and Pathan minorities in Sind as well as Rajput tribes that crossed over from Rajasthan and became Sindhi. The sole requirement for being accepted as Sindhi was assimilation: essentially, learning to speak Sindhi effectively did it.

In Shikarpur, it was fairly common until quite recently to address people as 'Lala.' This was because Shikarpur had a very old and very large Pathan minority that had completely assimilated to the extent of speaking Sindhi and not Pashto. Ever wonder why some prominent Sindhi families have surnames such as Durrani and Pathan?

However, the influx of Muhajirs into Karachi and Hyderabad was large enough, and they had political power, that they refused to assimilate in any way shape or form. Not just that, they insisted that the natives change to conform to the wishes of the immigrants. Not surprisingly the Sindhis were not too thrilled by all this. G M Syed, the grand old man of Sindhi nationalism, was the one who moved the Pakistan Resolution in the Sind Assembly in 1944, the first official such act.

Let me give you one relatively minor example of how the minority bullied the majority. When ZAB became PM, he let the Sind Assembly require mandatory Sindhi language instruction until Class V in all schools in Sind. Instant riots as the Muhajirs refused to learn an inferior, Hinduized (as they said) language.

This was of course only a sop thrown to the Sindhis but became 'evidence' used by the Muhajirs to show how oppressed they were by and how they still hadn't been accepted as Pakistanis. Keep in mind that Urdu had already been declared the national language decades ago and being 'forced' to learn a new language when you are in the first few years of school is a very easy thing to do; its not as if they were being forced to pass Sindhi language exams as a prerequisite for college admission. What a load of crap.

Muhajirs no doubt have some legitimate grievances post-1973 (mainly having to do with the fact that rural vs. urban Sind employment quotas means that Sindhis with lower educational qualifications get jobs at the expense of better educated Muhajirs) but this is a result of decades of systematic discrimination against Sindhis in their own province.

Reply to #57 Urstruly
You wrote, "napak fouj must be sent back into its kennels, Americans and other neo-colonialist be told to fukk off, ousted judiciary should be re-instated, an election commission should be established under the supervision of those judges; and free and fair elections be held."

- You have a long wish-list out of a tantrum, ending in a fantasy of free and fair elections, a self-perceived outcome of a imagined recipe. Grow up!

For HP,
Sir, this fire is fast burning down to ashes in itself, as earlier, even bigger fires, did. Pakistan lives on. Don't confuse yourself with a 3 day episode of looting and plundering as some form of popular reaction...there wasn't any, at the level we have perceived so far. The nation's amnesia keeps on getting stronger every day. Don't expect much!

"Try former Soviet Union and the Check(sp) republic."

Yugoslavia is perhaps a better example.

"Since perceptions count more than reality, yes some may try playing the Sindh Card. I believe, this card belongs to a small educated elite. As for haris and peasants, they are still in the strong grips of fuedals like Mehars, Pagaras, Jhkaranis etc. They dont understand a hang about nationalism".

This is totally and absolutely incorrect. Sindhi peasants are not, and were never, in the grips of Mehars, Pagaras, Jhkaranis, Bhuttos, soomros, Jatois, Marris, Khurhos, Talpurs, etc. They have always been, and are still being, terrorized and victimised by hindustani mukkaRs who chased away all the educated Sindhi Hindus and occupied their lands and homes. I still remember as a four year old, when my parents brought me to Pak, I used to chase Hindus all over the place with weapons of mass destruction. Must have chased thousands of families across the border. After I chased away all the Hindus in Karachi, my father was finally able to get a cushy 500 Rs/month job in the translation section of the USIS, after months of toiling, so he could support his family with five small children. Do you really think he could have gotten it if the Sindhi Hindus were still in Pak, His M.A in Arabic and English minor and experience with the All India Radio notwithstanding? So you can clearly see that my family was personally responsible for vicitmizing and oppressing the Sindhis and taking away all the good jobs.

Now granted he (my father) couldn't afford to give us money to take the bus to school so all of us walked 2-3 miles each way to school, but at least we had the luxury of going to school which is more than what millions of Sindhis ever did.

I vividly remember being interviewed by Principal D'Souza of the D.J. Science College after matriculation. Though I was terrified inside I managed to fool him into admitting me, while denying admission to hundreds of deserving third division holders, on the flimsy basis that I was a hindustani. So what if I had a first? Does that hide one's ethnicity?

The same rigging drama repeated itself two years later. It was Ayub Khan's time and, under the pretext of subjecting all of us to an all West Pakistan merit based entrance test, the NED Engineering College flaunted the same bias and admitted lots of us hindustanis into their engineering program. Once more many deserving natives were left high and dry simply because they didn't have the grades or could not pass the test. How unfair and disgusting? Now the College staff was very shrewd and did also admit many Punjabis, some sindhis, even Christian, Hindus, and Parsis to make it appear as if they were going strictly by merit. But we know the prejudiced minds of those damned Aligarhians; they were not fooling anyone.

My head hangs in shame every time I think of how many poor fisherman couldn't get decent jobs in Karachi because I went to the engineering college .

Look Ma, there is blood on my hands!

Re: # 70

Is this post some kind of a satire? If so please say so. Mohajirs wanted to destroy the fabric and culture of sindhistan, and they did so effectively. Why was Sindh so stupid in accepting them in the first place? Why were these Mohajirs not settled in Baluchistan?

Would it not be possible for the sindhi hindus to get their land back? After all that is exactly what the Palestinians who were driven out of their ancestral homes are demanding.

I can commence by saying that Pakistan became possible by Mohajir vote. If Mohajirs had not made the questionable decision of voting for All India Muslim League (breaking their families and condemning themselvesto a weakened position in a Hindu India) there would be no Pakistan. I am ready to accept an argument against the Partition itself; that it destroyed Sindhi nationalism; that it caused forced exodus of Hindus; or that it caused an arrival of (in your terms) the masses of maurauding, plundering Mohajirs. But for anyone who cherishes PAKISTAN, cannot complain about the arrival of Mohajirs without sounding hypocritical. For better or for worse, Muslims in central India gave you this country with their votes. So a small fraction of them being let into Pakistan --remember that the Muslims staying back in India outnumber the population of all of Pakistan -- is not some charity for which they should be grateful. And it makes me quite angry when I hear revisionist bakvaas about how bad it was to let these paupers within the borders of Pakistan.

Second: it is a bad idea to base your historical narrative on just your own personal experience. I do not question for a minute that some (maybe a large number) of immigrants drove the Hindus out of Sindh. This was a great, awful crime. (And many immigrant Hindus dished the same to Muslims in India, which kept the "Mohajirs" trickling into Pakistan until the mid 1950s.) But this is not the whole story. If a hundred people robbed the locals, 500 started from scratch.

Third: Initially, the political discourse in Pakistan was dominated by the Punjab/Mohajir perspectvie, as this was the Pakistani establishment. Any alternative to that -- Bengali, Balochi, Sindhi, etc. -- was considered fringe, secessionist, ethnicist, and dangerous. The powerful often dismiss the protests of the powerless as divisive rabble-rousing, and portray themselves as being above all these petty squabbles, and as the custodians of something sacred (usually religion or country) which itself exists primarily to guard the interests of the powerful. This cynical, and self-serving ploy is employed in almost every political conflict in the world. In the earliest days of Pakistan, the establishment trained this tactic on Bengalis, Pushtoons, Baluchis, and Sindhis. (Sheikh Mujib, GM Syed, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, were regularly labeled as "muta'assib" leaders, while no one said the same of Ghulam Mohammad, Iskandar Mirza, or Ayub Khan.) "Mohajirs" are no more a part of the Pakistani establishment, and dared to voice their grievances (with a very sad choice of spokespeople I must admit). So now Altaf Hussain is an ethnic partisan (which he is, for sure) but no one says the same of Nawaz Sharif of Imran Khan. (For the record, I do not buy into the politics of any of these people.)

Fourth: Maybe given the current state of affairs, and our historical baggage, it's impossible to rise above ethnicity, but events are forcing us to make a different choice. We can try to change the fault-lines of our politics from ethnicity to ideas. Unfortunately, the idiots that we have as political leaders are utterly incapable of thinking beyond building personality cults and ethnic armies. What kind of country do we want to live in, is a far more urgent question for us to answer than what language we will speak in the Sindh assembly, or how much quota should Karachi have in Federal Government jobs. To me, there are two fundamental questions. One, whether we are going to have a country which is ruled by the people, or one that is an oligarchy ruled by a few. And second, whether or not we are going to live in the current world, or are we going to recreate sixth century Hijaz within the boundaries of Pakistan. The Jihadis (MMA, Taleban, various lashkars, etc.) have understood the urgency of the second question, and have basically formed a united front that transcends ethnicity. The other side is still bogged down in squabbles and power-grabs within itself.

If Sindhi haris were in the grips of waderas, ZAB would never had won in Sindh. There are more Sindhi feudal outside of the PPP than inside of it. I looked at the list of the PPP candidates in Sindh and I could not find any big name wadera in there. Jotois both of Nawabshah and Dadu are opposing the PPP. Pir Pagara hated Bhutto even though he introduced Bhutto to Ayub and Iskandar Mirza. The Talpurs of Tando Mohd. Kahn and of Mirpurkhas barely register in the new PPP.

Btw, Nisar Khuro is not related to ayub Khuro and many Bhuttos are not related or are distant relations of the Bhuttos and mostly work in small jobs such as in banks and post offices.

In the just terminated Sindh assembly, barely two or three would qualify for wadera. Most of them were small to middle class landowners.

Fuziar that is a good post any it shows the reasons for the resentment but the real issue in any nationalist movement is economic. Sindhi were deprived of the economic opportunity in Sindh and that is still the case.

Re: # 66

High Intellectual Excellency HP Mian:

Do you believe world today is different from '47 and '71?

High Intellectual Excellency HP Mian:

Do you really know what you want, say and analyze upon analyze?

I have no reason to defend Zardari but his father was never a wadera in the true sense in Sindh. He owned couple of upscale cinema halls in Karachi and used bank loans to construct them.

Asif Zardari went to ordinary schools and his one sister Faryal(people might have heard of her) was a practicing Doctor until it was not possible for her to continue that.

Mir Banday Ali talpur was the biggest mean ass wadera in Sindh before partition. His children and grandchildrens are found begging for bank loans.

The Talpurs of TM Khan, Mir Ejaz ali talpur was a member of every assembly in Pakistan. Nobody knows where his sons and daughters are now.

A majority of Sindhis are forced to tend lands for living, that does not automatically make them wadera as we know them.