Sindhi nationalism

JSQM flag

Sindhi nationalism (Sindhi: سنڌي قومپرستي‎, Urdu: سندھي قومپرستي‎) is a movement that asserts that Sindhis, an ethno-linguistic group mainly found in Pakistan and India, are a nation. The movement asserts an ethnolinguistic and historic rather than religious basis for nationhood.

The Sindhi nationalist movement's demands have ranged from greater cultural, economic and political rights, to political autonomy, to outright secession from Pakistan and the creation of an independent state referred to as Sindhudesh. It was founded by G. M. Syed in 1972 to help Sindhi separatists forces to separate Sindh from Pakistan. Sindhi separatists believe that the Sindhi people suffer from disenfranchisement at the hands of Pakistan's Punjabi majority. They also feel they suffer from a demographic threat within their own territory, as Urdu-speaking migrants from India and their descendants (known as Muhajirs) are the majority in the Sindhi capital Karachi. Another common source of Sindhi disaffection with Pakistan is the feeling that water resources are diverted disproportionately to the Punjab region at Sindh's expense, particularly the water from the Kalabagh Dam and Thal canal.

References

External links

• Violent Sindhi nationalism raises its head again. South Asia Monitor. June 15, 2012