Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, leader of Sindh United Party (SUP), speaking in Hyderabad two days before the start of the census exercise said, 'all those living in Sindh are Sindhis; therefore everyone of them, whether speaking any language, should mention Sindhi as their mother tongue in the census form to prove their loyalty with the province'. This has agitated Karachiites no end, but we ought not to hastily respond to the SUP leader. First we need to know the rationale behind his seemingly irrational demand.
Even though Awami Jamhoori Party (AJP), Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), who are with SUP, are nationalist parties, and even though nationalism is normally criticised as bad politics, the birth of Sindhi nationalism owes to the fact that the provinces leading political parties, PPP and MQM, have done nothing for the people of Sindh. They have exploited them for votes and left them in the lurch, campaign promises unfulfilled or existing more on paper and in bureaucratic hands.
It is 70 years since Independence, and nearly five and four decades respectively since PPP and MQM came into being. What have they done for the masses? The province is poor, illiterate, underdeveloped with the exception of a few cities. The people of Sindh have no dignity, they are still treated like serfs of the waderas and by wadera type politicians. Yet in these years there has been a growing awareness of their identity which naturally led to emotional pride and nationalism.
Nationalism is extreme pride in the history and culture and loyalty to one's nation, characterised by excessive patriotism. This classic definition fits AJP, JSQM and SUP. But we must not ignore the motivation for nationalism, which is always a sense of deprivation caused by denying people life's necessities and rights. An indirect reference to Mohajir Quami Movement is in order. It originated in the sense of deprivation of the middle-class. Later a faction became Muttahida Qaumi Movement. It cannot be called nationalist because its members are migrants who settled in Sindh. It comprises several nationalities such as Gujratis, Memons, Madrasis, Bengalis, people from Maharashtra; and, of course, the large Urdu-speaking belt of UP and CP states of India. Though this group has many different mother tongues, Urdu is identified as Mohajir language. It is also the lingua franca of the country.
Nationalist patriotism needs an opponent, and that simply happens to be the Urdu speaking population of Sindh, concentrated in the cities of the province. Karachi is seen as the chief opponent because it is the only place where Sindhi is not spoken or understood by the majority (who now comprise Punjabis and Pukhtuns too). From north to south, excluding Karachi, Mohajirs speak fluent Sindhi, but that does not make Sindhi their mother tongue.
The SUP demand that all people of Sindh must write Sindhi to be their mother tongue in the language column of the census form is an attempt to create a uniform identity of the people of Sindh. In my opinion this is not prejudice. It would be a lie, and it does not prove loyalty to the province for everyone to claim Sindhi to be their mother tongue. To Karachiites of every stripe the city is their home and Sindh their province, but neither Mohajirs, nor Pukhtuns nor Punjabis, who have settled here since three generations, would call themselves Sindhis.
The reason is that the names of the four provinces identify indigenous people. Migrants and settlers if asked will say I am a Mohajir, I am a Punjabi, I am a Pathan etc. This is merely a cultural identity. If a Sindhi were to settle in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa he would still describe himself as Sindhi. So what's the problem with Sindhi nationalists and their irrational demand?
They have made Sindhi not a cultural but political entity. However, before you condemn them for their jingoism: over enthusiastic patriotism, first stick your knife into PPP and MQM whose self-serving politics has resulted in Sindhi nationalism. Apart from the demand we should all claim Sindhi to be our mother tongue, I see Sindhi nationalism as a beacon of hope for the uplift of the masses. That is, if they undertake projects to improve the common man's lot, such as through literacy, village improvement projects, health and establishing technical training institutes. They ought not to wait for help from the government, or put their faith in election promises of the major political parties. They should launch do-it-yourself programmes. They can do it because they are proud of being Sindhi.
Comments
Comments are closed.