This is a war about the oil from the Caspian, the US estimating as much as 270 billion barrels of it, and transporting it the quickest and cheapest route through Afghanistan. The giant US oil company Unocal has been looking at this since 1996.

The events of September 11th, real or invented, gave the US the opportunity to launch the war to install a government that has the confidence of the oil companies.

An accompanying side issue, is that it has given the industrialized countries an opportunity to launch a full scale attack on the civil liberties in their own countries.

Opposition being generally described as "Terrorist". I used to describe this as the phraseology of the "armed state against the armed opposition". In the opinion of the US Government, these days, the opposition doesn't have to be armed to qualify for the definition.

The Muslim population being the main scapegoats on this occasion.
The ENCARTA world English dictionary tells me that Sindh is a historical region of  south-eastern Pakistan in the lower Indus valley. A province of British India from 1843, becoming part of Pakistan after partition in 1947, with a population of 21.6 million but only 14 million of them speaking Sindhi. The World Sindhi Congress claiming 30 million and 15 million for two those figures respectively.

Squeezed between India and Pakistan, now both armed with atomic weapons, they will have no friendly ally in either.

India because it has a Hindu fundamentalist government based on the Rastriva Swayamsevak Sangh (Organisation of National Volunteers) founded in 1920, and violently anti-Muslim. The Bhratiya Party (BJP) Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is a member.

Their electoral success being based on the failure of the Congress Party to live up to the ideas and teachings of Pandit Nehru and Mahatma Ghandi.

Pakistan, a legacy of the Raj and because like Israel it is based on religion, (which I believe is ritualised opinion), is an insecure democracy and in or out of office dominated by the military.

In a Liberation pamphlet published in 1985, the situation in Sindh is described as follows
"Their rights have been severely curtailed both in the economy and in the government: of the 2,000 enterprises in Sindh only 500 are controlled by Sindhis, and they constitute only 5% of the Federal civil servants. Only 2% of the army service men are Sindhis.

The military authorities of Islamabad, by encouraging the population from the other provinces to migrate to Sindh, have caused considerable damage to the economic situation of the peasants who originally settled there. The wave of immigration ran particularly high when alongside the commissioning of major irrigation systems, free lands were being developed. Most of the land (75 %) was distributed on easy terms or generally free of charge among their arrivals from the other provinces, especially the retired military and clerks from Punjab and the North-West Frontier Province. A typical example is the recent distribution of 38,000 acres of highly fertile tracts in Thatta District. This land was sold by instalments for 30 years at the ridiculously low price of seven rupees per acre to police and civilian officers, mostly of Punjab stock.

Sindh culture has suffered considerably under military rule. No sooner had military rule been imposed, when the number of newspapers and magazines published in the Sindhi language was halved. Overall two and a half times more English and four times more Urdu periodicals are published than those in the vernacular. Radio and television have been cutting down on the volume of Sindhi language broadcasts - daily broadcasting time is now just 30 minutes. Scant consideration is given to the development. of the Sindhi language which is systematically being subjected to discrimination.

As a matter of fact, discrimination applies to the culture of all nationalities inhabiting Pakistan, a sequel to the undemocratic policy pursued by the military regime in sheer disregard of the national culture and language of the Nunjabis, Pustuns and Baluchis and in pursuit of the creation of a "single Islamic culture"."
I have not heard of any improvement since.

Opposition to these two regimes of India and Pakistan is dealt with, either by imprisonment or murder, judicial or otherwise.

The present leader of Pakistan, by dint of a military coup was an erstwhile friend and backer of the Taliban and certainly no friend of the Northern Alliance.

Since he came to power General Pervez Musharraf has done a balancing act between the Sunni and Shi`ite Muslims. At the outbreak of the war he showed, as a key player in the game, the ability to hold the lid down on the warring factions. No doubt under the influence of US money he will continue to do what is best for the US oil companies.

After this demonising of all and sundry, you may well ask, what is the alternative for the people of Sindh.
Certainly not "self- determination" (whatever the World Sindhi Congress means by this) which I believe is fools gold. But human rights, water rights, democracy, equality before the law for men and women, universal education, respect for cultural heritage and a free health service, yes. But self determination, which breaks up of a country and its influence into small parts, and makes it more vulnerable to the power of the multi-nationals.

As for international alliances, Sindh need look no further than China. Unlike Japan which is in deep recession, their economy is on the up with a 7.5% growth for the outgoing year and in the largest world population of 1.2 billion. With recent membership of the World Trade Organisation they have shown they are not afraid of the wind of change through some of their more backward industries, notably agriculture and state owned enterprises.

                    Thank You

Organisers: World Sindhi Congress & Baloch Voice (Sindhi Baloch forum)