‘Illegal’ immigrants: Save Sindh from becoming Palestine, say speakers
Conference says political movement against outsiders is need of the hour.
KARACHI:
The illegal influx of immigrants into Sindh is disrupting the demographic, social and cultural fabric of the province, said Sindhi writers, journalists and political workers at a conference held in Hotel Sarawan on Friday.
“It is a serious issue - it won’t be resolved merely by organising conferences and staging protests,” said Naseer Memon, a writer and analyst, arguing that a strong political movement against it was the need of the hour. “The indigenous people of Sindh are losing their popular majority,” he pointed out, saying that the situation was particularly dire in urban areas.
At the conference, titled ‘Save Sindh from becoming Palestine’ and organised by the Sindh Writers and Thinkers Forum (SWTF), Memon said that the province’s coastal belt was crucial. “It is the battleground of Sindh’s future,” he asserted.
Sharing statistics about the arrival of immigrants in Sindh, Memon said that the issue was not merely a result of the partition of the subcontinent. “Instead, it started almost a century ago, when the Jamrao Canal was constructed and the railway system was introduced in Sindh, giving easy access to outsiders,” he said.
According to the 1998 census, Sindhi-speakers only accounted for 26 per cent of urban-dwellers, said Memon, adding that Punjabis, on the other hand, formed 79 per cent of people in Punjab’s urban areas and Pashtoons in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were 73.5 per cent.
He said that the completion of development schemes would only lead to the settling of more outsiders.
“The continuous arrival of outsiders creates a number of problems for Sindhis,” said Jami Chandio, also a writer and analyst. He said that nearly 60 per cent of Sindh’s land was arid, adding that the economic situation of people living in rural areas was critical.
About 3.9 million illegal immigrants were living in Sindh, said Jami. “They won’t leave now,” he added. “They have identity cards and domiciles here.”
Meanwhile, Professor Mushtaque Meerani said that the arrival of outsiders had created security issues for the people of Sindh. He also believed that approximately 60 per cent of Sindh’s population would be living in the Karachi and Hyderabad divisions in the next few years.
“Religious extremism has ruined Sindh,” said SWTF office-bearer Muzaffar Chandio. “We have been struggling to solve Sindh’s issues and will continue to do so.”
Journalist Ikhtiar Khokhar highlighted the issue of illegal land distribution in different areas in Karachi and along the coastal belt. He said that 17,000 acres had been allocated during the tenures of Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Syed Qaim Ali Shah.
The provincial government itself had accepted that 52,000 acres were illegally occupied, Khokhar claimed, adding that nothing had been done as yet to recover the land.
Noor Ahmed Memon, Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, Dastagheer Bhatti and Hareef Chandio also shared their points of view, emphasising the need for a political movement against illegal immigrants. They also said that it was important to highlight the issue on all platforms.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 24th, 2014.
The illegal influx of immigrants into Sindh is disrupting the demographic, social and cultural fabric of the province, said Sindhi writers, journalists and political workers at a conference held in Hotel Sarawan on Friday.
“It is a serious issue - it won’t be resolved merely by organising conferences and staging protests,” said Naseer Memon, a writer and analyst, arguing that a strong political movement against it was the need of the hour. “The indigenous people of Sindh are losing their popular majority,” he pointed out, saying that the situation was particularly dire in urban areas.
At the conference, titled ‘Save Sindh from becoming Palestine’ and organised by the Sindh Writers and Thinkers Forum (SWTF), Memon said that the province’s coastal belt was crucial. “It is the battleground of Sindh’s future,” he asserted.
Sharing statistics about the arrival of immigrants in Sindh, Memon said that the issue was not merely a result of the partition of the subcontinent. “Instead, it started almost a century ago, when the Jamrao Canal was constructed and the railway system was introduced in Sindh, giving easy access to outsiders,” he said.
According to the 1998 census, Sindhi-speakers only accounted for 26 per cent of urban-dwellers, said Memon, adding that Punjabis, on the other hand, formed 79 per cent of people in Punjab’s urban areas and Pashtoons in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were 73.5 per cent.
He said that the completion of development schemes would only lead to the settling of more outsiders.
“The continuous arrival of outsiders creates a number of problems for Sindhis,” said Jami Chandio, also a writer and analyst. He said that nearly 60 per cent of Sindh’s land was arid, adding that the economic situation of people living in rural areas was critical.
About 3.9 million illegal immigrants were living in Sindh, said Jami. “They won’t leave now,” he added. “They have identity cards and domiciles here.”
Meanwhile, Professor Mushtaque Meerani said that the arrival of outsiders had created security issues for the people of Sindh. He also believed that approximately 60 per cent of Sindh’s population would be living in the Karachi and Hyderabad divisions in the next few years.
“Religious extremism has ruined Sindh,” said SWTF office-bearer Muzaffar Chandio. “We have been struggling to solve Sindh’s issues and will continue to do so.”
Journalist Ikhtiar Khokhar highlighted the issue of illegal land distribution in different areas in Karachi and along the coastal belt. He said that 17,000 acres had been allocated during the tenures of Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and Syed Qaim Ali Shah.
The provincial government itself had accepted that 52,000 acres were illegally occupied, Khokhar claimed, adding that nothing had been done as yet to recover the land.
Noor Ahmed Memon, Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, Dastagheer Bhatti and Hareef Chandio also shared their points of view, emphasising the need for a political movement against illegal immigrants. They also said that it was important to highlight the issue on all platforms.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 24th, 2014.