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Sanjay Suri in London
Mohajir leader Altaf Hussain has delivered his strongest warning yet that he will launch a struggle for self-determination in Pakistan's Sindh province.
Hussain, who lives in exile in Britain, said that in this struggle "I shall approach the United Nations, United States, India and other democratic countries".
In a speech on the telephone to Sindhi journalists, writers and intellectuals gathered at the Mehar Press Club in Sindh, Hussain said 54 years "under the colonial yoke of the Punjabi establishment" were enough.
"It is my mission to get Sindh free from all injustices and solve the problems of the people of Sindh," he said in the speech from the London headquarters of his Muttahida Quami Movement.
Hussain compared the struggle for self-determination that he would launch in Sindh with the 'struggle' in Kashmir. "We are with the people of Kashmir, but the people of Sindh have been deprived of their fundamental rights in their own country," he remarked.
Hussain, who leads the Mohajirs -- about 20 million Muslims who migrated to Pakistan from India during and after Partition -- said his community had received no rights in Pakistan. "We were deceived in the name of Islam," he said.
The Punjabi establishment regards Mohajirs, Sindhis and Baluchis as security risks when considering them for key government positions, he alleged.
"If we are such a high security risk, why doesn't the Punjabi establishment separate us?" he asked.
Writers, intellectuals and students would have to lead the struggle for self-determination, Hussain said. "No one will grant you your rights, you will have to take it from the usurpers."
Hussain said the people of Sindh would ideally like to attain their full rights within Pakistan. But he held out a long list of instances of discrimination against the people of Sindh by the Pakistani establishment, which is dominated by people from Punjab.
Hussain argued that the situation was steadily deteriorating for the people of Sindh.
The military operation launched against Mohajirs in 1992 is still continuing, he said. More than 15,000 Mohajirs had been killed in this operation, he claimed. Those killed, he said, included his brother and nephew.
Political parties that were elected to rule had failed the people of Sindh, he said. The situation, he concluded, was headed towards a people's struggle for self-determination.
Indo-Asian News Service
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