A week ago on Thursday January 21, the Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party (STPP) held an impressive large rally, which packed M.A. Jinnah Road from Quaid's Mazar to Tibet Centre. This great sea of people was emotionally charged but peaceful. Waving the blue-white-red striped party flags the rally looked colourful and was a sight for sore eyes. Alas! The slogans raised by the rally destroyed this lovely picture.
"Karachi belongs to native Sindhis", "Karachi is Sindh", "Immigrants get out" had the flavour of militancy. Speeches by the leaders were designed to create a "Them" and "Us". The "Us" were native-born Sindhis while "Them" identified Mohajirs, particularly those who settled in Karachi after 1954.
Mohajirs today comprise the third largest group of Karachi settlers. The STPP did not criticise the presence of the demographically greater population of Punjabi and Pathan settlers, or the Baloch minority. Nevertheless, the STPP leaders believe the Mohajirs, led by MQM, dominate the capital of Sindh politically. That is true judging on the results in the last general election and the dominance of MQM in the City District Government Karachi (CDGK).
It does seem odd that Karachi does not appear to be an integral part of the Sindh province despite being the provincial capital. The STPP however is misled in the assumption that the Mohajirs are responsible for creating a separate ethos of Karachi. The statement in the speech of STPP chairman, Dr Qadir Magsi, that "Karachi had been part of Sindh for centuries" reflects ignorance of geography and history of the city.
Dr Magsi's mission, to create awareness of their identity and thus give the masses of Sindh a consciousness of their personal dignity and confidence to stand for their rights, is an excellent mission. But demonising one type of people of Sindh will not make saints of native Sindhis. He must recognise that the real demons of Sindh are the elite native Sindhis themselves, who have since time immemorial treated the masses like dirt, expecting obedience from them as if they were slaves and serfs with no human rights.
The other thing for him to do is recognise that from its very origin Karachi is a cosmopolitan city and therefore her ethos will continue to remain cosmopolitan. Just because Karachi's culture is not typically Sindhi does not mean contemporary Karachiites imagine it to be outside the province.
Dr Magsi's assertion that "It is only the native Sindhis who have a right to rule in province" is an attempt to channelise the nascent Sindhi nationalism into unhealthy confrontation between old and new settlers in the province, particularly in the provincial capital.
This bodes ill for the masses because such a nationalism will be exploited by elite native Sindhis for their own end while the people will gain little or nothing in benefit nor progress economically. For oppression alone is the source of power of the elite native Sindhis. None of them is a Ghulam Shah Kalhora working for the unity of the whole of Sindh. Each Sindhi leader today simply wants to consolidate his fractured piece of Sindh for his own glory. In such an unhappy scenario the people of Sindh will continue to be pawns of the power hungry.
It is thanks to Ghulam Shah Kalhora, the great Prince of Sindh, that Karachi was integrated into the Sindh province in the year 1758. Since geographically it is in Balochistan, Karachi was part of the territory of the Khan of Kalat. Ghulam Shah, who was on friendly terms with the Khan of Kalat persuaded him to hand over Karachi to Sindh in exchange for a small hamlet in Serawan.
Though the land officially became part of Sindh it was not populated by Sindhis as a government policy. A few, on their own, came and settled in Karachi. The indigenous native population of Karachi remained of Baloch extraction, the coastal tribes of fisherfolk who are called Makranis.
Sindhi natives, whose livelihood was largely based on agriculture and herding of sheep and camels, were not attracted to Karachi which was a trade and commerce centre. The Sindhi element of Karachi has therefore always been minor. There was no city here until 1726.
Traders hailing from the Gujarat (and Cutch) initially used to land their cargo (meant for upcountry and for Balochistan and Iran) at a port called Kharrak Bunder near Hub. In the first quarter of the 18th century Kharrak Bunder had silted over and the trading community searched for another place. They settled for a place called "Dribo" (means sanddunes) near the delta of the torrential rivers Orangi and Lyari.
Kharrak Bunder was abandoned. Cargo was now conveyed and cleared by small boats via Baba Bhit and China Creek. While ships were anchored on the other side of Manhora island.
In order to provide a secure place for the trading community, 30 acres were acquired on the mainland. This small place had two gates known as Khara Dar and Meetha Dar. This was Karachi. Its original name was Khara Shehr means Salt City. The inhabitants were Gujaratis, specifically Parsis, Cutchi Memons and Hindu Banyas.
Hardly had he got possession of Karachi in 1758, Ghulam Shah gave trading rights to the British East India Company in September 1758. Thereafter, the city began to acquire a colonial look which today is the characteristic architecture of the city. Goans and Anglo Indians now settled in Karachi. Partition of India in 1947 brought a new wave of settlers from all parts of India who now go by the universal title "Mohajirs".
The building of a new country, its trade and industry drew a mass of population from Punjab and NWFP. Karachi, therefore, is a cosmopolitan city. It is Sindh since 1758 but was not in any period the desirable habitat of native Sindhis. It is a reason why the STPP rally on January 21 was a happing that has left no mark on the city. Her cosmopolitan foundation was not shaken.