Sindhis in Pakistan demand separate homeland

London [UK]/Frankfurt [Germany], Feb 4 (ANI): Sindhis living across Pakistan and other parts of the world have intensified their demand for a free 'Sindhudesh’ or a separate homeland for themselves.
The movement was conceived by the Sindhi political leader GM Syed. He gave a new direction to Sindhi nationalism, founded the Jeay Sindh Mahaz in 1972 and presented the idea of 'Sindhudesh.'
The chairman of Jeay Sindh Muttahida Movement (JSMM) Shafi Muhammad Burfat said, "We have been a Sindhi nation for many thousands of years. In 1947, we missed our thousand-year-old historical national identity. Now, we Sindhis are struggling for our independent homeland, Sindhudesh”.
“To eradicate Islamic terrorism, Pakistan needs to be destroyed. Pakistan, which is a theocratic state, is using religion to spread Islamic terrorism and military high handedness to keep the Sindhis under their control,” he said.
Sindh is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, which is rich in mineral resources. However, the people here live in intense poverty and face issues like malnutrition, unemployment, and lack of drinking water, Burfat noted.
The organisation further says that a large number of people, who have demanded their rights from the federal government, have gone missing. The families of missing persons allege they are being abducted by secret service agencies.
Sindhi nationalists believe Pakistan has always used minorities, including Kashmiris, to further the interests of Punjabis.
“The national democratic voices of Sindhi, Baloch and Pashtun nations have been ruthlessly crushed. The people in the so-called Azad Kashmir (Pakistan occupied Kashmir) are facing worst colonial oppression and suppression. Externally they have used the issue to ferment terror and destabilisation in the entire region and have destroyed peace and the prosperity of the region,” Lakhu Luhana, general secretary of World Sindhi Congress, said.
He added, “Those oppressed in Pakistan know the reality of this criminal deception. It is time that the international community understands and effectively respond to this before it too late”.
Luhana said that Pakistan’s so-called solidarity for Kashmiris is a cruel fraud. He said, “We believe that the so-called 'Kashmir Solidarity Day' by Pakistan in London is a cruel fraud."
"Pakistan's security establishment first created the Kashmir conflict by invading Kashmir, committing barbaric atrocities in the process and dividing it. Then over last 70 years, they internally have used the Kashmir issue to establish their utter and disproportionate power over all spheres of life in Pakistan,” he said. (ANI)