Khalique Junejo’s letter to Dawn in response to Dawn editorial “IDPs in Sindh”

This is with reference to your editorial “IDPs in Sindh” dated: May 24th, 2009 wehrein some points are not presented in proper perspective while others need some clarification.

There is a big difference between the stance and attitude of MQM and Sindhi People regarding the issue of so called IDPs. Sindhis are not opposed to their entry and settlement in Sindh because of their being ethic Pakhtoons or because they are coming from some specific places like Malakand and/or FATA as is the case with MQM. Sindhis are against the influx, into Sindh, of people belonging to any ethnicity and coming from any place, either from another province or another country as Sindh is already over-saturated and over-stretched.

You say that “if IDPs are fleeing their homes, they have no choice as their land is now a theater of war. Yes, they have no choice but to flee. But is their no choice and chance for them to settle in a place along the 2000 k.m. route they traverse to reach Karachi and Hyderabad? In between come the places of Pakhtoonkhuwa, the capital Islamabad and the big brother Punjab. If the only justification is that they have their relatives in Sindh, it proves the point of the Sindhi nationalists; those who came yesterday make ground for more to come today and the ones coming today will create reason for many more to come tomorrow.

Continue reading ISSUE OF I.D.Ps AND THE RIGHTS OF SINDH (A nationalist point of view) →