There are some separatist movements in Pakistan which are based on ethnic/regional nationalism though only a few are of much significance.^{[citation needed]}

History

Pakistan was established in 1947 as a state for Muslims. The driving force behind the movement for Pakistan was the educated Muslim in the Muslim minority states of United Province and Bombay Presidency and the Muslim Majority areas. Its formation was based on the basis of Islamic nationalism. However, rampant corruption within the ranks of the government and bureaucracy, economic inequality between the country's two wings caused mainly by a lack of representative government and the government's indifference to the efforts of fierce ethno-nationalistic politicians like Mujeeb-ur-Rehman from East Pakistan, resulted in civil war in Pakistan and subsequent separation of East Pakistan as the new state of the People's Republic of Bangladesh.^{[citation needed]}.

Balochistan

The Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) separatist group was founded by Jumma Khan Marri in 1964 in Damascus, and played an important role in the 1968-1980 insurgency in Pakistani Balochistan and Iranian Balochistan.Mir Hazar Ramkhani, the father of Jumma Khan Marri, took over the group in the 1980s. The Balochistan Liberation Army (also Baloch Liberation Army or Baluchistan Liberation army) (BLA) is a Baloch nationalist militant secessionist organization. The stated goals of the organization include the establishment of an independent state of Balochistan separate from Pakistan and Iran. The name Baloch Liberation Army first became public in summer 2000, after the organization claimed credit for a series of bomb attacks in markets and railways lines. The BLA has also claimed responsibility for the systematic ethnic genocide of Punjabis in Balochistan (about 500 as of July 2010) as well as blowing up of gas pipelines. In 2006, the BLA was declared to be a terrorist organization by the Pakistani government.

Sindhu desh

Sindhudesh (Sindhi: سنڌو ديش, literally "Sindhi Country") is a concept floated by some Sindhi nationalist Parties in Pakistan for the creation of a Sindhi state, which would be independent from Pakistan.^[1][2] The movement is based in the Sindh region of Pakistan and was conceived by the Sindhi political leader G. M. Syed. A Sindhi literary movement emerged in 1967 under the leadership of Syed and Pir Ali Mohammed Rashdi, in opposition to the One Unit policy, the imposition of Urdu by the central government and to the presence of a large number of Muhajir (Indian Muslim refugees) settled in the province.^[3]

Sindhi separatists totally reject the parliamentary way of struggle for getting freedom and rights.^[4] Therefore, no Sindhi nationalist party has been ever voted into power in Sindh at any level of government.^[5][6] Some nationalist parties and associations are banned for "terrorist, anti-state and sabotage" activities by the Pakistani government.^[7] A Sindhudesh rally was organised in Karachi in March 2012, which had a notably low turnout,^[8] followed by a freedom march by the pro-separatist Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) which, according to sources, gathered hundreds of thousands of people to demand independence for Sindhudesh.^[1]

A strike called by the pro-separatist Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) on 25 January 2014, resulted in a complete strike in the province, excluding some areas of Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar, Matiari and Ghotki.^[9] Sindhis feel that they are a separate and full-fledged nation, so they have been struggling for self-determination of Sindh.^[10]

Sindh is the member of UNPO and its declared as Occupied & Unrecognized territory by the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization and Sindh is represented in (UNPO) by the World Sindhi Congress.^[11]

Gilgit-Baltistan and Balawaristan

The Gilgit-Baltistan United Movement (GBUM) is a political movement of Gilgit-Baltistan based in Skardu, Pakistan. It demands a fully autonomous state consisting of Gilgit and Baltistan, formerly known as the Northern Areas.^[12]

The GBUM states that the Gilgit-Baltistan regions, formerly known as the Northern Areas, should be denoted "Gilgit-Baltistan" and that the Northern Areas Legislative Council should be given the status of an "Independent Constitutional Assembly" and given similar rights granted to the existing Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly.^[13]

Before the GBUM, there was a Gilgit-Baltistan National Alliance (GBNA), promoting the same claims, together with the Balawaristan National Front (claiming the independence of a larger political entity, Balawaristan).^[14]

Jinnahpur and Muhajir Sooba

Jinnahpur refers to an alleged plot in Pakistan to form a breakaway autonomous state to serve as a homeland for the Karachi based Urdu-speaking Muhajir community.^[15] Mohajirs are immigrants who came to Pakistan from India in the wake of the violence that followed the independence of Pakistan in 1947. The alleged name to be given to the proposed breakaway state was "Jinnahpur", named after Mohammed Ali Jinnah. In 1992, the Pakistani military claimed it had found maps of the proposed Jinnahpur state in the offices of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (now renamed Muttahida Qaumi Movement), despite the party's strong denial of the authenticity of the maps. Despite the party's strong commitment to the Pakistani state, at that time government of Nawaz Sharif chose to use it as the basis for the military operation against the MQM, known as Operation Clean-up.^[16]

The Muhajir Sooba (literally meaning 'Immigrant Province') is a political movement which seeks to represent the Muhajir people of Sindh.^[17][18] This concept floated as a political bargaining tool by the leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Altaf Hussain for the creation of a Muhajir province for the Muhajir-majority areas of Sindh, which would be independent from Sindh government.

References

Further reading

• Mahmud, Ershad (2008), "The Gilgit-Baltistan Reforms Package 2007: Background, Phases and Analysis", Policy Perspectives, 5 (1), Islamabad: Institute of Policy Studies: 23–40