JSQM-A chief Arisar passes away

By A.B. ARISAR | MOHAMMAD HUSSAIN KHAN

HYDERABAD/UMERKOT: Renowned scholar, writer, researcher and nationalist leader Abdul Wahid Arisar passed away in a hospital in Karachi after long illness on Sunday. He was 66. He has left a wife and a daughter.

Arisar had been suffering from a kidney ailment for quite some time and had remained under treatment in a private hospital in Hyderabad before being shifted to a Karachi hospital, where he died of renal failure.

His body was transported to his hometown, Unnarabad, near Chhore cantonment bordering India, and then taken to Aauri village graveyard for burial.

Chairman of his own faction of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, which was known as JSQM-Arisar, the deceased leader was born in on Oct 11, 1949 in a village in India while his parents were away visiting their relatives on the other side of the border.

A simple and soft-spoken person, Arisar received his basic education from religious seminaries in Sabho Sharif and Bhindo Sharif after his parents migrated to Pakistan. He also got education from Hashmi Madressah in Sujawal and Madressah Muftahul Uloom and Shah Waliullah Academy in Hyderabad. Allama Ghulam Mustafa Qasmi was one of his teachers.

During his early studies in a religious school in the Kangoro area, he wrote his first (Sindhi) write-up, Rabiul Awwal ja char chand (Four crescents of Rabiul Awwal) in 1966.

He was highly inspired by Congress luminary Maulana Abul Kalam Azad. He never missed any opportunity to quote Azad’s words or writings in his own speeches, according to his contemporary Abdul Khalique Junejo, the chief of the Jeay Sindh Mahaz. Arisar devoured books in Persian and Arabic languages, he said.

He led prayers in a mosque in Memon Mohallah, Hyderabad and also taught religion in Silawat Mohallah of the city for some time.

Impressed by the philosophy and political views of the late statesman, G.M. Syed, Arisar joined the Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM) founded by the veteran leader on June 18, 1972 and also managed a periodical Paigham later.

According to Mr Junejo, Arisar remained part of the JSM for many years and became convener of its organising committee in December 1977. Later he served as the committee’s chairman for around 15 years. His contemporaries, besides Mr Junejo, were Ghulam Shah, Ali Nawaz Butt, Hashim Khoso and Jam Saqi.

Mr Junejo said that Mr Arisar took the nationalist movement from educational institutions to the streets of cities and villages which helped broaden the political base of the JSM.

When the JSM witnessed a spilt after Syed’s death in 1995, Mr Arisar along with Gul Mohammad Jakhrani, Bashir Khan Qureshi and Shafi Mohammad Burfat founded the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM).

He remained its chairman for one term. Later Mr Qureshi became its chairman and Mr Arisar the secretary general. In 2006, differences cropped up between the two and Mr Arisar formed his own faction of the JSQM.

Watch the renowned writer, scholar, philosopher and political commentator Noam Chomsky’s statement about extra-judicial killings of enforcedly disappeared Sindhi political activists

Watch the statement of renowned writer, scholar, philosopher and political commentator Noam Chomsky on extra-judicial killings of enforcedly disappeared Sindhi political activists and forced conversion of Sindhi Hindu girls!

Courtesy: Noam Chomsky + YouTube

Other voices: An ominous sign

DR Hameed Soomro writes: a tragedy took place near Naushahro Feroze claiming the lives of Maqsood Qureshi, brother of late nationalist leader Bashir Qureshi and Salman Wadho. … After [being] shot the bodies were dumped in their car and set on fire. … Earlier Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz chief Bashir Qureshi also died in mysterious circumstances. …Maqsood belonged to a nationalist group which … [does not] … pose a threat to the state. … The group did not announce any armed struggle. Still Maqsood was killed. There are speculations that … this might be a message to the group to remain within its limits. … This incident [sends] the message that Balochistan-like conditions are being created in Sindh. … It is the responsibility of the government … to solve this mystery. … — (March 23) ~ Selected and translated by Sohail Sangi.

Courtesy: DAWN
http://www.dawn.com/news/1095465?fb_action_ids=10152130818119830&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=[1481293392099200]&action_type_map=[%22og.likes%22]&action_ref_map=[]

Analysis of gruesome murders of Secular Sindhi Nationalist Leaders and biggest-ever peaceful rally of Freedom March by the people of Sindh

Must watch analysis of gruesome murders of liberal and secular Sindhi Nationalist leaders of Maqsood Qureshi and Saleman Wadhu and the biggest-ever, 5 million peaceful rally of Freedom march by the people of Sindh. The language of the video clip is in Sindhi language. Discussion by Naseer Memon and Moeson Baber.

Courtesy: Sindhi Tv channel Aawaz Tv

Sindh marches for freedom

By Kirshna Y.

About five million Sindhis marched in Karachi and demanded United Nations and the world community for their intervention for the freedom of Sindh.

Numbers matter. Opinions matter more. If combined together, they determine a vast arena of matters. This is what one can say about the South Asia’s populist and the peaceful most freedom movement ongoing in Sindh. No doubt, the movement has been giving the sparkly glitz since last a few years.

On March 23, 2014, millions of Sindhi people from across the Sindh province held a ‘Freedom March for Sindh’ on the call of Jeay Sindh Qomi Mahaz (JSQM) in Karachi, the capital city of Sindh. They demanded “Independence of Sindh” by appealing the world community especially the United Nations, USA, UK, Russia, France and China for their ‘support and intervention” for the freedom of Sindh to attain its sovereign and independent country. It is worth mentioning here that JSQM is one of secular most political parties in Pakistan.

The march was held on the Republic Day of Pakistan on March 23, 2014. It was also held on the same day in 2012 and was attended by at least two million people. The popular most Sindhi nationalist leader of the last two decades, Bashir Qureshi who was Chairman of Jeay Sindh Qomi Mahaz (JSQM) was poisoned to death by Pakistan?s military establishment and died within a couple of week in April 2012 after holding the freedom march.

After his death, his son Sanan Qureshi, who is in his twenties, was elected as Chairperson of JSQM. Bashir Qureshi’s younger brother Maqsood Qureshi was already a member of GMist Council, the higher most forum of the organization.

 

Strength in numbers: JSQM’s ‘Freedom March’ turns into party’s biggest-ever rally

KARACHI: Supporters and activists of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) converged at MA Jinnah Road in Karachi for the Freedom March on Sunday. The party managed to attract a respectable crowd, despite the recent killings of two of its leaders and the threats of possible attacks at the rally.

“Is it a sin to love your motherland? Have we ever adopted the path of violence?” questioned the party’s chairperson Sunan Qureshi while addressing the rally. He alleged that his uncle, Maqsood, and another party leader, Wadho, were killed by ‘hidden hands’.

Speaking about the province’s natural resources and its share in the country’s revenue, Sunan said that despite contributing 82 per cent of the country’s natural gas, 69 per cent of its petrol and 80 per cent of the total budget, children were dying in Tharparkar due to starvation. He said that 6.1 million children in Sindh were out of schools. “About 28 per cent people of the total population of Sindh have hepatitis and because of contaminated water and food shortage, the average life expectancy in Sindh is just 43 years,” he claimed.

Sunan also alleged that Sindh’s water is being stolen, saying that the continuous arrival of outsiders in Sindh had created an alarming situation.

“We consider Urdu-speaking people as permanent residents of Sindh. We accept you as our brothers,” he announced, amid of slogans of Jeay Sindh. “But don’t take Sindh as a policy. Sindh is our motherland and we won’t accept its division at any cost.” The youngest leader of any Sindhi nationalist party, Sunan addressed the huge crowd in front of Rimpa Plaza. Leaders of different nationalist parties attended the march, including Riaz Chandio, Khaliq Junejo, Zain Shah, Ameer Bhanbhro and Dodo Mehri.

Sunan said that religious harmony existed in Sindh before the partition of the sub-continent and that religious hatred was now being instigated deliberately.

The funerals of the party’s leaders, Maqsood and Wadho, who were killed on Friday, were also performed after Sunan’s address. Their bodies were later taken to Ratodero, where both will be buried today (Monday).

The area from Tibet Centre to Numaish Chowrangi was cordoned off and all roads were blocked with containers. Participants from different parts of the city joined the main rally which started from Qureshi’s residence in Gulshan-e-Hadeed.

“Both our leaders were shot dead and their bodies were set ablaze,” said party vice-chairperson Dr Niaz Kalani. “We will register an FIR after the burial rites,” he confirmed to The Express Tribune.

Sagar Hanif Burdi, one of the party’s leaders, confirmed that Waseem Akhtar and Ashfaque Mangi of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement had also joined them for the rally.

“The Sindh government has not contacted us yet,” he revealed, saying that only statements have been issued.

This was the second such rally on March 23 by the JSQM – the first was led by Sunan’s deceased father, Bashir Khan Qureshi, in 2012. Bashir died under mysterious circumstances soon after the rally on April 7.

Courtesy: The Express Tribune, March 24th, 2014.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/686523/strength-in-numbers-jsqms-freedom-march-turns-into-partys-biggest-ever-rally/

JSQM’s ‘Freedom March’ in Karachi

Meanwhile in Pakistan, the natives (Sindhis) of the largest revenue-generating province, Sindh, of Pakistan took to the arteries of Karachi to demand independence from Pakistan. They alleged that Pakistan was not acknowledging their culture and historical status of a ‘nation’, whose roots are in the Mohen-jo-Daro, the ancient Indus civilization.

A couple of days back, while on work for the ‘Freedom March’, two leaders, Maqsood Qureshi and Salman Wadho, of the organizing Sindhi nationalist party, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), were found charred in a burned out car in Sindh. The post martem report holds it that they were shot multiple times before the car was set on fire. JSQM alleged that the Pakistani intelligence agencies were involved in the dual murder.

The Freedom March started back in 2012 when the then-party chairman, Bashir Khan Qureshi led the Freedom March in Karachi on March 23rd. The specific day is chosen because, on this day, Pakistan celebrates the passing of the Lahore Resolution, in which official demand for a separate country was upheld; however, unlike the status defined for the federating units to be ‘autonomous’, Pakistan violating the resolution itself made the federating units as ‘provinces’ and tried to paint all nations — Sindhi, Bengali, Baloch, Punjabi — as ONE single nation which all but Punjabis resisted and, consequently, the East Pakistan turned into Bangladesh.

Mr. Qureshi died two weeks past that march ‘mysteriously’.

So, two freedom march at the cost of two central leaders — brothers to each other.

Despite being the richest province of Pakistan, recently, scores of children died in the Thar area of Sindh due to what was being labelled as ‘famine’. Joblessness is prevalent. Poverty is at its bloom in Sindh. Natives are barred from decision-making process and migration from other parts of the country and the world is threatening the natives to turn into minority in their own historical homeland.

The so-called national (Read Urdu-language) media completely blacked out the coverage of the thousands of the Sindhi marching in the country’s largest commercial city, Karachi.

Read more » http://networkedblogs.com/VaNfS

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More details » BBC urdu
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2014/03/140323_jeay_sindh_freedom_march_sa.shtml

CNN report – Millions of Sindhis Want freedom

By ShoukatZ

SINDH – Karachi: Pakistan is under the threat of Disintegration and after Baluchistan Now Sindh is also demanding freedom from the state of Pakistan. To show this demand Politically one of the Sindhi Nationalist Party Jiye Sindh Qomi Mahaaz (JSQM) called for a freedom March in the provincial capital of Sindh Province.

The leaders in there speeches were telling the audience about the atrocities of the State and specially brought recently burnt after being Shot dead two of the leaders bodies in protest.

Sanaan Qureshi a young leader and son of the slain Nationalist leader Bashir Khan Qureshi told the audience that we are betrayed and our rights are violated by the state of Pakistan. Demanding own right to live is not a Sin but when we demand it we get killed. He said enough is enough. our survival is in freedom and the state of Pakistan has to demolish.

Niaz Kalani the vice chairman again reminded about the extra judicial killing of Nationalists leaders by state agencies and condemned it. He said our province meets the demands of Pakistan like 70% of Tax revenue, 83 % of natural Gas, Sea ports and the biggest coal mines in thar Desert but our people are dieing of Hunger.

He said this is the right time to show the world and world should see this that millions of peoples are on streets but except regional Sindhi media there is no media Coverage. He further said how long will you suppress our voice, how many people will you kill??. The leaders demanded World Community to Take notice of Extra judicial killings & human rights violation of Sindhi People

The rally was attended by almost 5 million people and the majority was youth of Sindh. After speeches they performed the funeral prayers of their slain leaders whose bodies were brought in the rally.

Courtesy: CNN
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1111164

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari condemns JSQM leaders killings

By Pakistan Peoples Party

KARACHI, March 21: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Patron-In-Chief, Pakistan Peoples Party has strongly condemned the brutal killings of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) leader Maqsood Qureshi and a worker in Naushehro Feroz.

In a press statement, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said inhuman act of burning the bodies of JSQM leader was the most heinous crime stressing that those committed it must not go scot-free at any cost.

He asked for thorough probe into the incident and fact-finding as PPP, being a democratic party, would never allow such incidents under any circumstances.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expressed sympathy to the family of JSQM leader and workers and asked the people to remain calm and assured full support to the bereaved family.

Courtesy: Media Cell PPP
http://mediacellppp.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/bilawal-bhutto-zardari-condemns-jsqm-leaders-killings/

IN MEMORIES OF THE THOORI PHATAK MARTYRS OF SINDH

By Naseer Memon

On 17th October 1984, five young Sindhis were brutally killed and scores were injured when an army contingent sprayed two buses of students with bullets. Sindh University students were on their way to Larkano to attend an event when they were stopped near Thorri railway crossing in the then Dadu district. These buses were fired upon indiscriminately by Marshal-law force of Gen. dictator Zia, the biggest enemy of Pakistan. Five young men namely Malik Khushk, Zakrya Memon, Amanullah Vistro, Anwar Abbassi and Mitho Buledi died on spot and several were injured. More than 100 students were arrested and subjected to inhuman torture. Seven of them served prison for more than five years. A judicial inquiry was conducted but the report was never made public because it is believed that the inquiry concluded that the act was shear barbarity.  Sindh remembers and salutes great heroes of this day.

مٹی کی محبت میں ہم آشفتہ سروں نے

وہ قرض چکائے ہیں جو واجب بہی نہیں تھے

Courtesy: Via Naseer Memon’s Facebook wall

JSMM seeks world help to ‘liberate Sindh’

By: Daily Dawn report

HYDERABAD, July 7: The chairman of the banned Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz, Shafi Burfat, has urged the United Nations, European Union, America, France and other foreign countries to help the JSMM get ‘freedom for Sindh’.

He said in a recorded message played at a JSMM rally held on the Fatima Jinnah road outside the State Bank of Pakistan building late on Saturday night.

“The JSMM wants to reconstitute Sindhi nation on the pattern of civilised nations of the world…After the Abbottabad operation, the state has become a nursery for jihadists and world powers should break chains of slavery that have enslaved oppressed nations,” he added.

He said that free markets could not be established until all forms of slavery in the third world were abolished. The world should avoid wishful thinking that there was democracy in Pakistan, he added.

Sindh’s mineral and other natural resources were being usurped by Punjab which had become a strategic partner with China against America and India, he said.

JSMM senior vice chairman Lala Aslam Pathan urged the Urdu-speaking people to unite under the JSMM’s flag for ‘freedom of Sindh’. “Extremists and other organisations hold Urdu-speaking community hostage but if they follow G.M. Syed’s philosophy no power on earth can dare touch them,” he said. …… A message from Nawab Khair Bakhsh Mari was also read at the gathering.

Read more » DAWN
http://dawn.com/news/1023506/jsmm-seeks-world-help-to-liberate-sindh

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Repeating Balochistan in Sindh

By Naseer Memon

The recent spate of violence in Sindh attained yet another traumatic dimension when the brutalised bodies of two young students were found in Dadu district. In a typical Balochistan-styled episode, both activists of a nationalist party, Amir Khahawar and Sajjad Markhand, were picked up in Larkano a few days ago and their tortured bodies were later found on the roadside.

National media, being too occupied with election mania, ignored the incident but the grisly news made rounds on Sindhi television channels. In a similar incident, another political activist, Muzaffar Bhutto, was found dead after a protracted disappearance and four other activists were killed near Sanghar in broad daylight.

The recent incidents triggered a wave of violence, protests and a paralysing strike in large parts of the province. Kidnapping and dumping lacerated and mutilated bodies of political activists turned Balochistan into a vortex of violence and now, the same mistake is being repeated in a relatively sedate province. Similar incidents snowballed a political conflict into a secessionist movement in Balochistan.

The province has been made an open cemetery of political workers and yet, the insurgency has refused to subside. Past insurgencies in Balochistan were mostly confined to a few tribes and their areas, but this time, ceaseless killings have propelled the insurgency and bestowed it with broader ownership of lower and middle class people. An inept policy of using gun power to handle political conflict has not only sullied the country’s image in the international community but fuelled a fire that has become difficult to douse.

A nationalist movement in Sindh started in the early 1970s when GM Syed initiated the Jeay Sindh movement in the aftermath of the debacle of Bangladesh. However, a discrete identity of this movement has been its peaceful demeanour in consonance with GM Syed’s philosophy of non-violence and peaceful coexistence. As a result of that, nationalist parties and splinter groups of Jeay Sindh, in spite of having serious political disagreements, never resorted to mass violence. On April 25, GM Syed’s death anniversary was observed where about half a dozen groups of the Jeay Sindh movement held separate parallel gatherings in Sann and no untoward incident was reported.

Violence in Kotri, Jamshoro after JSMM activists killed

By Mohammad Hussain Khan

HYDERABAD: Two people were killed while four others received bullet injuries as violence broke out in Kotri, Jamshoro district on Sunday evening.

The incident comes in the backdrop of the killing of two activists of the banned Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) in Khairpur Nathan Shah of Dadu district.

Their bullet riddled and mutilated bodies were found in Dadu earlier in the day. Two vehicles were torched and a train was attacked in the unfolding incidents of violence in Kotri.

JSMM has called for a province wide strike on Monday, according to a press release received through an email, to condemn the incident.

The PR blamed ISI and Rangers saying that they had picked up two activists who were busy in preparation of late GM Syed’s death anniversary on April 24. After going missing their bodies were found on Sunday in Khairpur Nathan Shah, it said.

Day of Remembrance for Sindhi Martyrs in Los Angeles Commemorated

Tributes paid to all the Martyrs of Sindh on the Anniversary of Bashir Qureshi

Los Angeles, CA  [Press Release] April 7th, 2013**,* Several activists from different parts of Southern California gathered on Sunday the April 7th in local restaurant to commemorate the anniversary of *Bashir Qureshi*, a Sindh leader

who was poisoned to death on the same day a year ago. In last few years Sindh political and civil society leaders have been targeted by the security establishment and by the fascists groups in Karachi.

This event was organized by World Sindhi Congress, a human rights advocacy, based in UK and USA. Participants paid tribute to *Muzafar Bhutto*, *Ghazala Siddiqui, Rooplo Choliyani, Sirai Qurban Khawar, Parveen Rehman, Noorullah Tunio, *and *Samiullah Kalhoro.*

“While world is reading about the terrorism inflicted by Islamic militants upon Shias and other civilian population, the Indigenous people of Sindh and Balochistan are facing terrorism from other parties, the targeted killings of our leaders and workers by the security agencies and fascist groups in Karachi,” said Dr. Saghir Shaikh, the member executive committee World Sindhi Congress. “Fascists groups even did not spare our women leaders, Ghazala Siddiqui and Parveen Rehman,” further said Shaikh.

Amongst others who attended include Malik Dino Shaikh of WSC, Rahman Kakepoto of WSC and also a President of G M Syed Memorial Committee, Sani Panwhar and Bashir Mahar of Sindhi Association of North America, Sobhya Agha, an activist from Sindh Pakistan, Venus Shaikh, Suniti Kakepoto, Susanna Shaikh, Jaffar Shah and Benazir Shaikh of International Sindhi Women’s Organization (ISWO). Sobhya Agha conducted the program, Mr Kakepoto

introduced the activities and mission of World Sindhi Congress, Mr. Malik Shaikh offered the vote of thanks to all the participants.

On platform of the WSC we shall continue to inform the international community about the on-going atrocities on Sindhi people and to raise the issue of targeted killings and forced disappearances at the UN forums, said Mr. Kakepoto of WSC.

A tribute to Amar Shaheed Hemu Kalani

Amar Shaheed Hemu Kalani. [امر شهيد هيمون ڪالاڻي], who took active part in the SWARAJ SENA [سوراج سينا] to fight against British Crown and gave his life for self rule [سوراج]. He is our hero, whom we have forgotten and even given up to write on, though he deserves enough to be paid heed and tribute. Martyred Hemu Kalani, who is our hero and freedom fighter. The year 1942 was an era of socio-political upheaval, Quit India Movement was in the torrents and British Raj was very much angry on the freedom fighters for their movements.

Hemu Kalani had executed by British Raj authorities in Sukkur jail on 21 January 1943. On 26 January 1943, Jawaharlal Nehru, who later became Prime Minister of India, paid tribute to Hemu Kalani in these words; “My mind traveled to sindh where a few days ago a young boy Hemo aged 20 was sent to scaffold by a martial law court for the offence of tampering or attempting to tamper with railway lines. This execution struck me as something which will have far reaching consequences all over India , especially among the youth. The blood of Hemu and others will long stand witness.”

After two years, when Jawaharlal Nehru Nehru was came to Karachi, Sindh 1945 he especially visited Sukkur and met with the mother of Amar Shaheed Hemu Kalani and had paid tribute to this hero of Sindh. There is a huge statue of Amar Shaheed Hemu Kalani at Lok Sabha (federal Parliament)  in Delhi in front of deputy speaker chamber. There are several roads, streets and schools in Mumbai, Ullhas Nagar (Sindhu Nagar)  and other cites that are named on Amar Shaheed Hemu Kalani to pay tribute to this hero of Sindh and sub-continent.

Shaikh Ayaz had written his immortal opera in the background of freedom fighters and Bhagat Singh remained the most inspiring man for Ayaz. So for the Hemu Kalani is concerned, we have been hearing the name by the nationalists and especially from the activists of Jeay Sindh. They used to make speeches and deliver the names of the heroes of Sindh.

The role of Jeay Sindh remained active in this regard, the youth followed them and some booklets were also published, when Jeay Sindh was at its peak; the party boosted up their heroes and sang songs for those.

People do not know about Hemu more, they just have heard the name; no concrete material is provided, he should be worked out and published.

“We urge minister of tourism and culture to make his memorial, preserve his home and inscribe a road. Invite Tekchand Kalani to visit Sindh to inaugurate that road and memorial. His brother tekchand’s last wish is to see Sindh before death.”

We would also request to Teckchand, the brother of Hemu should also write his memories and get his memories published not only in a book form but on the internet also.