KARACHI: Showing grave concern over the killing of Sindhi labourers in Gwadar earlier this month, leaders and intellectuals from Sindh and Balochistan gathered at Haider Manzil on Saturday to condemn the act of terrorism and demonstrate solidarity with the aim of unmasking the elements behind the attack together.

They also announced formation of the Sindhi-Baloch Yakjehti Committee.

Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, the president of the Sindh United Party, said that the people of Sindh and Balochistan faced similar issues, which had brought them closer over the years.

“We Sindhis and Balochs are friends. Maybe it was our unity that was seen as a threat by certain elements who want to split us up,” he said, adding that trying split their alliance by pointing to nationalists as the attackers was not going to work as it was not easy to divide the people of the two provinces.

“It is sad that Sindhis, despite having so much industry in Sindh, have to go to Balochistan to earn a livelihood. Balochistan these days is a battlefield. It is a dangerous territory,” he added.

Sardar Akhtar Mengal, the president of his own faction of the Balochistan National Party, said that the indigenous people of both provinces shared similar history and they found solace in sharing each other’s pain.

They care about each other and after this they will join hands to unearth the real culprits behind the act of cowardice, he said.

Akhtar Mengal equates CPEC with the East India Company

“For this, we are announcing, today, the formation of the Sindhi-Baloch Yakjehti Committee. We will join hands to confront the enemy together, and together we will also put out any flames of hatred that may have started due to the sad incident,” he said.

“We may be unable to fight those with guns and canons but we can stop the things they are making use of to fan the fire,” the BNP-M chief added.

Asked if they approached the Balochistan government about the matter, Mengal laughed. “The Blochistan government may be a government in your eyes but not in mine,” he said.

Coming to the subject of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said it will turn the people of Balochistan into a minority. “We Balochs are few in number anyway and there are the other workers there being brought from everywhere, not to mention when the Chinese too would flock here in huge numbers. It will just make the indigenous people of Balochistan become invisible,” he said.

“You should know that CPEC is impossible without Balochistan and its city of Gwadar but see how the people of this city are struggling for basic necessities such as drinking water,” said Mengal.

He questioned, “I ask what has the government given to Balochistan from the initial investment for CPEC?”

“Take my word for it, CPEC will turn out to be no different than the East India Company. The Chinese, with their huge population and all, will make Pakistan look not like a country, but China Town,” he concluded.

Yousuf Mastikhan of the Awami Workers Party and former parliamentarian Shafi Mohammad Jamote were also present on the occasion along with other nationalists and writers and intellectuals of both provinces.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2017