Championing the Seraiki cause

Seraiki political parties have not made sincere efforts to create a separate Seraiki province

As a son of the soil, I take my Seraiki identity seriously. As a member and president of the Seraikistan Qaumi Ittehad I support the demand for a Seraiki province.

Unfortunately, politics based on ethnic identity is frowned upon by some powerful people in Pakistan. They are quick to label you as a traitor. I too have suffered my share of persecution. Police have registered a number of false cases against me. In 2004, I was detained under Section 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance for organising a Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (PONM) conference in Rajanpur. PONM leaders Mumtaz Bhutto, Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Nawab Akbar Bugti were forcibly stopped from attending the conference. Dr Abdul Hye Baloch was arrested. The PONM is an alliance of several nationalist parties including the Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party, the Awami Tehreek, the Balochistan National Movement, the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and the Seraiki Movement.

In 2005, I contested the election for district nazim. Some prominent landlords in the area joined hands against me and ensured my defeat with help from the government.

I have been raising my voice for my people. I am disappointed with the politicians of the Seraiki wasaib and the mainstream political parties as they have not made the sincere effort needed to create the separate Seraiki province. I have no doubt in my mind that the Bahawalpur province movement was launched only to divide and sabotage the Saraiki province movement. It enjoys no support in the Seraiki wasaib. South Punjab too is a misleading name for the proposed province. Seraikistan is the only name acceptable in the wasaib.

I have been opposing the allotment of Cholistan lands to refugees from India, government officials, university graduates from northern Punjab and multinational companies. To this end I have started the Cholistan Bachao Tehreek. For too long the lands have been distributed among favourite bureaucrats, services veterans and the privileged in the name of stud-farms. We have to stop the rulers from distributing the lands in Thal, Cholistan and Dhandhi estate. These lands must be allotted to the landless peasants of the Seraiki wasaib.

I have no sympathy for those trying to marginalise and exploit the religious minorities. I helped retrieve church land in Liaqat Pur from the land grabbers. In Sadiqabad tehsil of Rahim Yar Khan district, I helped restore and secure a shamshan ghat (cremation ground) of the local Hindu community. As a sufi elder, I believe in acceptance of diversity. Also, Christians, Hindus and Sikhs are equal citizens of Pakistan.


The writer is a central leader of Seraikistan National Ittehad movement

Championing the Seraiki cause