By: Dr. S. Akhtar Ehtisham

Sindhis and Mohajirs [urdu-speaking-sindhis] have been close personal and family friends since partition. I count Sindhis as my best closest friends. We had Sindhi neighbors in Hyderabad. Sindhis and Mohajirs [urdu-speaking-sindhis] had started intermarrying with each other.

Zulfiqar Bhutto was given a leg up first by leftist students who counted Sindhis and urdu-speaking-sindhis in their ranks. I once met Mr Jalal Zaidi of MQM who was to Altaf what J.A. Rahim to was Zulfiqar Bhutto. He told me that the agenda was to;

a) create a middle class urdu-speaking-sindhis organization,

b) oust Jamaat-e-Islami as an effective political party from Karachi, Sindh and

c) develop cordial relations with Sindhis to speed up the merger of both communities as nation of Sindh.

Altaf Bhai met G.M. Syed of blessed memory several times. Talks were on the right track but the extremist element among Sindhis opposed Saeen G.M. Syed. Suddenly, Mr Zaidi, Altaf asked him to retire or else. He thought that dictator general Zia had told Altaf Bhai not to get too close to Saeen G.M. Syed.

In terms of Sindh, it is in their own interest and it is vital for Sindhis and urdu-speaking-sindhis to get together. In federal terms, it is in the class interest of the working class to get together with the working class of all other provinces. At the Sindh level, the Sindhi-Mohajir conflict serves the interest of the MQM elite and Sindhi wadaras (landowners). At the federal level it serves the interest of what I call the Evil Quad of Feudal, the Army, Bureaucrats and Mullahs.

Courtesy: → Pakistani e-lists/ e-groups, Sunday, August 21, 2011.