Can Sindh come back to India? Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has said that the borders can change again. But it is a matter for everyone to understand why the Sindhi organizations of Pakistan welcomed it? Why do Sindhis of Pakistan not want to live with Pakistan and why do they see hope in Rajnath Singh’s statement? Why did the people of Jiya Sindh Movement demanding Sindhudesh welcome Rajnath Singh’s statement? Whereas the demand for creation of Pakistan was first officially raised in the Sindh Assembly? Jiye Sindh Movement which demands Sindhudesh is the G.M. She considers Syed as her grandfather, do you know that he is the same GM? Syed had presented the proposal of creating Pakistan before partition i.e. in 1943?
Muslim League had a majority in the Sindh Assembly and the Sindh Assembly was the first assembly in the whole of India which had presented the proposal of creating Pakistan in the British era itself i.e. in 1943. And why does the organization of the person who had presented that proposal now want to separate from Pakistan? You know G.M. Syed died in 1995 but till his dying days he was not able to forgive himself for this. Till his last breath, he kept saying that he committed the biggest and historical mistake of his life by supporting Jinnah at that time. So why did this happen? It is important for everyone to understand this. This is a story of history which perhaps the public neither knows nor is told. But it is important for everyone to understand the story of the partition of India which has been forgotten.
The public has heard many stories about the partition of Punjab and Bengal. There was a lot of bloodshed. Punjab and Bengal were divided into two parts by drawing a line on the ground. India here, Pakistan there. Western Punjab became Punjab of Pakistan. And East Punjab was the one which became Punjab of India. East Bengal had become East Pakistan. That means Pakistan was in two pieces. On this side, which we now know as Pakistan. And East Pakistan was the one which again separated from Pakistan in 1971 and became Bangladesh. But there were three more provinces, which completely went to Pakistan. Frontier, which is now called Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Sindh. Punjab and Bengal were divided on this basis because there were more Hindus in East Punjab and more Muslims in West Punjab. So this part was given to India and that part was given to Pakistan.
Similarly, there were more Muslims in East Bengal and more Hindus in West Bengal. So that distribution was also done accordingly. And till today Bengal of India is West Bengal, while East Bengal is nothing. But the frontier was towards Afghanistan and Balochistan was also towards Afghanistan and Iran and the number of Hindus in both those areas was very less and their border was not visible with the new India, so they went to Pakistan. But Sindh’s border was with India. Why did India not get Sindh by dividing the part towards Rajasthan and Kutch? So one reason was that the Sindh Assembly itself had passed the proposal for Pakistan, so the British made it a basis. Apart from this, according to the 1941 census, Muslims in Sindh were 71% and Hindus were 27%, but perhaps the bigger reason was that Hindus and Muslims were not divided in areas like Punjab and Bengal. It was not that in the east and that in the west or that in the north and that in the south. Rather it was that there were more Hindus in the cities and more Muslims in the villages.
Meaning, Hindus were only 27%, but they had control over the cities. Karachi city was settled by Hindus and before partition, Karachi used to be a modern city rivaling Bombay city. Hyderabad city was also established by Hindus. So there were Hindus in Karachi too, there were Hindus in Hyderabad too, there were Hindus in Sakhar too, there were Hindus in Shikarpur too, there were Hindus in Ladkane too, that is, Hindus were the big businessmen in the cities, they were on big administrative posts, and Hindus were also very ahead in education. There was certainly one desert district, Tharparkar, which was rural and Hindus were in majority there, but in the rest of Sindh, Hindu-Muslim urban and rural were divided in this manner. So entire Sindh went to Pakistan. And there was no major Hindu-Muslim conflict in Sindh before partition. Sporadic violence had started happening at some places since the 1920-30s, but there were no major riots. Because the culture was considered quite mixed. But GM of Muslim League. Leaders like Syed felt that since the number of Muslims was more in the province, then after the formation of Pakistan, their progress would be more in administration and business etc. But what happened? When Pakistan was formed, the Muslims of Bengal who were on this side went towards East Pakistan.
Most of the Muslims of Bihar also went to East Pakistan because it was nearby. And the Muslims of Punjab who went there, went to Punjab only because the language was the same, the culture was the same. And where were the remaining Muslims from UP, MP, Delhi and other states who went to Pakistan and settled? In the cities of Sindh. Because one, the cities of Sindh were the most modern cities at that time, and second, there were abandoned houses and mansions of Hindus. Hindus were prosperous. The Urdu speaking Muslims who had migrated from here were settled in their houses and localities. So if the Muslims of Sindh were not committing violence against Hindus, then why did the Hindus leave there? Because violence in Sindh did not occur on a large scale at the time of partition. Large-scale violence started in Sindh after partition when Muslims from UP, Delhi and other areas of India started arriving there. Sindhi Hindus who were reaching there after migrating from here had to become victims of their violence. Therefore Sindhi Hindus started leaving Sindh. And as Hindus left the cities there, more Muslims started settling there. Remember, Karachi was also made the capital of Pakistan at that time.
The capital was shifted to Rawalpindi Islamabad in the 60s. Jinnah had hoisted the flag of Pakistan in Karachi itself. That Karachi city which was established by Sindhis. All the Urdu speaking Muslims who had migrated from here were settled there. Even today those Muslims are called Mohajirs there. That is, those who migrated. So what did Sindhi Muslims get by demanding Pakistan? Sindhi language itself disappeared from their own cities. The number of Urdu speaking people who left here in Karachi became 57%, in Hyderabad 65%, in Sakhar 55%, that is, Sindhi Muslims became minority in their own cities. So much so that it is said that this was also a conspiracy of Punjabi Muslims. He did not want to keep the Muslims coming from Delhi-UP and other places in Punjab. It is said that when trains used to go through this place, there was no map available with the public at that time, people used to ask whether Pakistan has come? But trains from Punjab were moved forward, Pakistan is ahead towards Sindh.
Moving forward, moving forward, moving forward, most of the Muslims who left here were settled in Sindh. So the anger among Sindhi Muslims had started increasing since then. G.M. Syed said that he made a big mistake. The Sindhi Hindus who were managing the economy of Sindh were their own people. All these Urdu people came and the condition of Sindhi Muslims became worse. On top of that, the Punjabis captured the army there. And the army started ruling there. Sindhis were killed from both sides. So when the Bengalis seceded and achieved Bangladesh, then what G.M. Syed was the first leader to bring the proposal of creating Pakistan, he started the Live Sindh Movement with the demand of Sindhudesh.
The Pakistani government kept him imprisoned for years. Kept in jails. Kept under house arrest. But till his death, he kept regretting that he lost Sindh by creating Pakistan. Jinnah’s two-nation theory was given a slap by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman by creating Bangladesh. The second slap was given by Jiye Sindh Movement. The people of Sindh are showing a mirror to Asim Munir who is still singing the two-nation theory that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations by supporting Rajnath Singh’s words. Mohammad Ali Jinnah has been proved wrong. Country is made up of culture. Countries are not created by drawing lines on the ground. That is why Rajnath Singh said. The boundaries may also change.
