Call for devising strategy against incitement to ethnic hatred

Participants of a moot on Wednesday discussed the issues of Sindh and its people, and agreed to devise a strategy against those who incite enmity and cause hatred between the province’s permanent residents, particularly Sindhis and Urdu-speakers, on ethnic grounds.

As part of their efforts to maintain ethnic harmony in the province, the Sindh United Party (SUP) and the Pakistan Qaumi Mahaz-e-Azadi (PQMA) jointly organised the ‘Sindh Unity Conference: People to People Dialogue’ at the office of an urban rights organisation.

The speakers warned the government to refrain from taking any action that can jeopardise national unity, and agreed to work jointly in future to ensure stability in the province. They said they will not allow the scheme of instigating conflict on ethnic grounds between the communities living in the province to succeed.

SUP President Syed Zain Shah said that besides the Sindhi language, which was officially used for judicial, official and educational purposes, other languages, including Balochi, Marwari, Memoni, Gujarati, Seraiki, Punjabi and Urdu, were spoken in different parts of the province even at the time of Pakistan’s establishment.

“However, shortly after the forming of Pakistan, some unwise decisions, such as forcibly handing over the capital of Sindh, Karachi, to the federal government and depriving the Sindhi language of its national status, sowed seeds of hatred among the permanent residents of the province,” he said.

“Also, the rulers established One Unit to destroy the identity of the historical units in the country, a decision because of which we are still suffering.”

He also said the Urdu-speaking generation born in Sindh should learn Sindhi, which should be fully implemented in the province as an educational, official and judicial language. Suggesting that the district quota be maintained, he demanded eliminating the rural and urban quotas.

PQMA Convenor Azhar Jameel said on the occasion that the Sindhis and Urdu-speakers living in the province should struggle together for the rights of Sindh. Urban planner Arif Hasan; academics Dr Syed Jaffar Ahmed, Dr Tausif Ahmed Khan, Dr Inam Bhatti and Dr Majeed Chandio; Barrister Ravi Pinjani; Mushtaq Mirani; Naseer Memon; Roshan Burro; Khawaja Naveed Amin; Jagdesh Aaooja; Tehseen Fatma and Naveed Hassan were among other prominent speakers.