BEYOND FEDERALISM

The Book

Sindh, a Pakistani province today, has historically remained a sovereign country until British invaded it in 1843. Sindh and Hind have been sister countries with at least two-thousand yours old nationhood. Sindhi language, according to the linguists, is a twin sister of the Sanskrit. Sindhi Kingdom has been mentioned in Rig Veda as well as in the epic of Mahabharata. There is a popular myth in Sindh that Rig Veda was written at the banks of Indus on the Kirthar Hills, one of the oldest mountains on the globe. The exact place of the documentation of the Rig Veda is known today as Sewhan town of Sufi saint Qalandar Lal Shahbaz. Until early last century, the town was known as Sivastan, a Sindhi variant of Shiv Asthan.

This chapter narrates and analyzes Sindh before 1843 British occupation and its relations with rest of the South and Central Asia. Its social fabric, economy, culture, and literature is also discussed. It touches though the nature of governance, its various branches, and the issues of governance.

Sindh fought back with British even after occupation from 1843 to 1943. Three waves guerrilla warfare marked a hundred years war. One of this warfare was at full scale during the Second World War. This war compelled British to engage 35000 Royal Indian Army troops and a large number of troops from Sindh Rifle Police. The first ever-military rule in Indian Subcontinent was imposed during this.

III: Politics that Shook the Subcontinent

Sindh played a considerable role in the Indian subcontinent politics during British era. At least two of the central secretaries and one president of Indian National Congress (INC) and key leader of All India Muslim league (AIML) Mohammad Ali Jinnah were Sindhis. Besides, Sindh’s support for Reshmi Romal Movement, Khalafat Movement as well as engagement with Indian National Army (INA) is the components that would be discussed in this chapter. The impacts of all India politics on Sindh are discussed in the chapter in detail. Another focus of the discussion is the majority people’s dissent regarding federating with Pakistan during 1946.

This chapter deals with the business and trade contribution of Sindhi Hindus for undivided India especially their economic expansions to the central Asia as well as Far East and Africa. Their role in the social reforms, human and infrastructure development is also highlighted.

V: A Nation Divided

The chapter carries in-depth analysis about a divide in the opinions of Sindh regarding being part of India or Pakistan. The partition of India was a partition of Sindhi people also, whose entire middle and urban class, that was Hindu, migrated to India and some Feudal Lords and majority Muslim peasantry remained in Sindh. The chapter discusses the migrations towards and from Sindh in qualitative and quantitative details. Besides, the literature that was against the partition of India by Muslim Sindhi intellectuals has also been reviewed. An analysis of the impacts of partition over Sindh is also undertaken.

VI: Betrayal

Sindh was besieged politically during 1947 – 1971 through various initiatives by the Pakistani government, which included dismissal of Sindh Government and separation of Karachi from Sindh in 1948; imposition of highly centralized unitary system of governance in the name of federalism 1960s; banning Sindhi language; distributing millions of acres of agriculture land of Sindh among Punjabi military officials and civil bureaucracy etc.

VII: Resurgence Eclipsed

This chapter deals with various issues through special focus on the development of Sindhi middle class. It was only during 1972 – 1977, under the Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, when a new Sindhi middle class started developing. In this period, a process of social construction in Sindh began, which later on provided social bases of a new resistance in Sindh. It was this period when Sindhi was declared the official language of Sindh province, due to which Urdu-speaking community of Muhajirs (refugees) took to the streets as this step challenged the hegemony of Urdu as a national language.

VIII: The Resistance

This chapter deals with the military rule of General Zia ul Haq from 1977 – 1988. During this, a severe resistance movement went off in Sindh, which in larger connotations translated and manifested into the freedom movement. A large number of army was installed in Sindh to counter this massive movement, which after heavily militarization in the province turned into sporadic militancy. Hundreds of civilians and armed forces were killed during this

IX: Ethnography of Violence

The chapter focuses the violence and terrorism by the ethnic minorities of Sindh. It also put deep light on the initiatives by the federal government to settle millions of immigrants from Afghanistan, Burma, and Bangladesh as well as from within Pakistan to convert Sindhi people into a demographic minority. It discussed in details the reasons of new migration to Sindh, quantitative details and demographic settlement patterns.

X: Water Conflict

The political movements in Sindh during 1988 – 2006 were mostly around water rights, against construction of Dams over river Indus; rights of the people of Indus Delta and ecological sustenance of Sindh. The chapter details the technical aspects of the water conflict between Sindh and Punjab and charters movements around the Indus water rights of Sindh.

XI: Political Economy of Federal Exploitation

After 1990, Sindh saw a escalating movements for the rights of oil, gas and coal and other natural resources, which ultimately strengthened the nationalist enough to culminate into freedom movement in Sindh to become a popular wave. This chapter maps and analyzes social movements around natural resources along with quantitative details of exploitation of resources and shirking indigenous people’s rights over resources and development.

XII: Resurgence of Modern Resistance

Demographic majority, sovereignty of Sindh, right to rule the land and rights over natural resources are the foundation of contemporary Sindhi nationalism. This chapter analyze the various aspects of nationalist movements, their mode of struggle as well as their achievements, weaker areas and failures.

This chapter deals with the state formation in Pakistan after 1947 and its impacts on the society as such. In this chapter, the role of migrated civil bureaucracy from partitioned India, leadership of All India Muslim League, and Pakistan Army, which predominantly was Punjabi is deeply analyzed in the formation of state in Pakistan. It also reviews the contemporary Pakistani state from the futurologist perspective.