History of atrocities against Mohajirs

History of atrocities against Mohajirs

Truth is often bitter and not easily digested. Nowadays, a lot of criticism has been carried out against Mohajirs, the offspring of those who secured independence from British Raj and created Pakistan. Movement of Pakistan and Independence – It has been proclaimed from various forums that, at the time of Partition, Sindhis expressed warm hospitality towards Migrants (Mohajirs) and facilitated them by providing them land, jobs, opportunities etc.  Sindh is renowned as Shah Latif’s land, a land of peace and harmony – where neither discrimination nor prejudice exists. When Pakistan was created, a huge migration occurred and millions of Muslims migrated to Pakistan. It is a fact and part of the history that Sindhi Nationalists did not welcome those migrants (Mohajirs) with open arms and maintained a prejudiced attitude against them. It is also a well-known fact that robbery cases were lodged against those Mohajirs who, in order to cover up their modesty since they did not have clothes, pulled out a piece of cloth from migrant camps. Any individual can easily comprehend from the lines above, about the extent of detestation, unfair demeanour and prejudice against Mohajirs, which instigated the moment Pakistan was created and migration commenced. History of Pakistan is comprised of only 65 years. However, in such a short span of time, there are infinite number of tales about the atrocities, brutalities, racial hatred and inhuman treatment of Sindhi Nationalists towards Mohajirs. This war of racism and hatred against Mohajirs, which started in 1947 by few so-called Sindhi Nationalists is still underway in some shape, way or form. This is why, Mohajir youth should be well-aware of their past, which is only filled with atrocities and deprivation of fundamental rights. Brutal History and series of racial/ethnic discrimination in the current time have sown an idea in the minds of Mohajirs – the idea that there should be a separate Mohajir Province. Recently, the slogan of separate Mohajir province is being raised by Mohajirs. Today, Mohajirs have now concluded that they wouldn’t allow racist Sindhi nationalists to rule over the entire Mohajir Nation. Every member of Mohajir Nation; men, women, youth and elderly have now decided that they would prefer to die standing than to live on their knees. On 21st December 1947, the then Chief Minister Sindh Ayub Khorho made a statement that, ”Total number of migrants have reached 300,000 now and it has been agreed that only 700,000 migrants will be settled in Sindh – therefore, those migrants who couldn’t afford to buy a house or start a business should not move to Sindh.” Is this the hospitality that Sindhi Nationalists speak about, time and again, in their speeches that ‘Sindhis provided land, opportunities etc. to Mohajirs and welcomed them.’ Ghazanfar Ali Khan, the then Minister of Migrants, raised voice against unfair and inhumane treatment of Mohajirs in Sindh and requested Sindhis to refrain from racially offensive behaviour against Mohajirs.  On the other hand, Ayub Khorho (the then Chief Minister Sindh) delivered a speech on 8th January 1948, in which he openly said that Mohajirs must be prevented from settling in Sindh. Unfair treatment towards Mohajirs, who sacrificed everything in the name of Pakistan, even made Syed Hashim Hussaini (Secretary All India Muslim League) to break his silence – he said that Mohajirs in Sindh are facing strict policies, and this should be stopped. Whoever speaks in favour of Mohajirs, had to pay heavy price of it. Pir Elahi Bakhsh resigned since everyone turned a deaf ear to his appeals to treat Mohajirs fairly and justly. A well-known philanthropist and the then Collector of Karachi, Raza Ahmed had to leave Karachi, since he supported Mohajirs and worked day in and day out, in order to help and facilitate needy Mohajirs. Controller Mehmood-ul-Hassan was murdered since he was very vocal about settlement of Mohajirs in Sindh. Moulana Abdul Qudoos Bihari was arrested and expelled from Sindh because he raised voice against government’s unfair policies for Mohajirs. On 6th April 1948, Ghazanfar Ali Khan, delivered a speech in Model Town, Lahore, in which he said that “Pakistan is not created to serve vested interests of few people; if this is the case then I think Movement of Pakistan was worthless.” He also stated that “5 million Mohajirs are not provided with settlement facilities, but they have just been given a temporary stay or refuge in Sindh.” At that time, unfair treatment of Mohajirs became a big issue and after reading various news reports, Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah also raised her voice on this matter. In the vicinity of Burns Road (Karachi), Police performed an operation to vacate houses from Mohajirs, batoned innocent women and also beat up and arrested the protestors. When Mohajirs went to the Police Station to bail out those who got arrested, they were abused by Police and banned from entering Police Station. On this matter, Fatima Jinnah issued a statement of condemnation and said that Mohajirs must not stop raising voice against the atrocities and she will take part in any protests by Mohajirs in the future. On 9th April 1948, Jang Editorial mentioned that “Migration of Mohajirs from Pakistan back to India has commenced. We pointed out the matter of rehabilitation and settlement of down-trodden Mohajirs in our earlier publications and requested government to take action, but it seems that voices of Mohajirs will not be heard by the establishment that resides in palaces. It is an appalling situation/disaster that Mohajirs who came to world’s only Islamic state (Pakistan), in the name of Islam, to get refuge from Infidels brutalities, are now willing to risk their lives by migrating back to India, since their own brothers are not ready to facilitate them.” On 15th January 1949, a local weekly newspaper published an article on the issue of increasing animosity of local Sindhis towards Mohajirs. A slogan was raised by Sindhi Nationalists that ‘Sindh belongs to Sindhis’. At the same time, Daily Jang published an editorial ‘Background of a Dangerous Conspiracy’ in which it was illustrated that Abdul Majeed Sindhi held a meeting in Jinnah Courts and raised a slogan of separate Sindhi identity. Moreover, Association of Journalists in Sindh which was regulated and supported by Government of Sindh, banned the membership of Urdu Journalists / Writers. In current times, Mohajir Columnists, Journalists and Intellectuals are still being ethnically discriminated, due to the policies of racist leaders and government officials. Racial discrimination, hatred and unfair treatment towards Mohajirs, left Pakistan Muslim League Council with no other option than to pass a resolution to form Karachi a Mohajir province. Although, Sindhi Nationalists protested against this resolution, but on 22nd October 1951 resolution was passed to announce Karachi a separate province. This resolution was presented by H. Jafar; 81 voted for the formation of province and only 3 voted against. Only 2 days later, Quami Mohaz declared the Council’s decision and Convenor of Jinnah Awami League Hussain Shaheed Suharwardi made a speech in favour of this decision. Unfortunately, few Mohajirs did not offer full support to this movement due to which this issue was sidelined. Today, political, social, economical and educational genocide of Mohajir Nation is being carried out by Sindhi Nationalists. In the last couple of years, thousands of Mohajirs have been brutally killed and Mohajir Nation is being deprived of their fundamental rights, since there mandate is not accepted by Sindhi Nationalists. History repeats itself, but Mohajir Youth will not repeat the blunders committed by 1st generation of Mohajirs – they will not stop until they get their own province ‘Mohajir Province’ as voices are heard from every nook and corner that Mohajirs are now UNITED! We shall live in peace some day, We’ll walk hand in hand some day We shall live our dream some day, Deep in our hearts, we do believe We shall overcome some day.