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deteriorating law and order situation com-pelled these people to seek refuge in thelarge towns and cities. This process beganin the early'80s. The migrants chose thosetowns where they could find employmentand educate their children. Consequently,the population of Sindh's secondary townshas doubled. Additionally, the outskirts ofKarachi, Sukkur, Hyderabad and Larkanahave witnessed the formation of katchiabadiswhich are populated mostly by thesemigrants from interior Sindh. Two decadeslater, these rural migrants have become apart of the urban economy, and acclima-tised themselves completely to city life.

They have acquired new skills and man-aged to secure employment in both the pub-lic and private sectors. A large number ofthe rural migrants' offspring, who are well-educated, are moving in the upper echelonsof society. Over time, this new urban gener-ation has realised that their representativesare not very educated nor skilled, lack theircommunication skills, and that they sup-port the status quo. They are not interestedin serving their constituents.

This emerging young breed that is ex-posed to a new world order, is demand-ing more space and a greater voice in theaffairs of Sindh. But the PPP has failed toengage them, and there is a growing reali-sation among the PPP voters that they arebeing taken for granted.

For instance, they feel that the PPPfailed to secure their interests while nego-tiating a power-sharing plan with the MQM,even at the early stages of the coalition'sformation. And now, PPP voters from in-terior Sindh feel even more betrayed asthey observe workers of nationalist groupstear apart various clauses of the SPLGOrdinance 2012 before them at tea housesacross the province.

Sindh has witnessed innumerable pro-tests for assorted reasons. But the natureof the present protest movement is quitedifferent from the previous ones. This time,the PPP is being challenged on its homeground, the protests are widespread, andits participants come from towns and citiesand are economically well-off.

What's interesting is that the rural legis-lators themselves have joined the ranks of

the demonstrators.lncidentally, the Sindhi Adabi Sangat

(an association of Sindhi Writers), the barcouncils, the press clubs, NGOs and cul-tural circles are helping to accelerate themovement. lnitially, some PPP MPAs triedto malign the protest movement by accus-ing the Punjab government of financing it,

A quick scan of Sindhi newspapers re-vealed that around 20 demonstrations, es-timated to be attended by 2000 to 3000participants, were taking place in a singleday in various towns. Unfortunately, theyare not getting adequate coverage in thenational print media or the electronic me-dia. One possible reason could be that since

is

the protests are taking place in the smallertowns of Sindh, the media considers this tobe an issue of the relatively less privilegedand, hence, not significant.

Meanwhile, Sindh is bracing itself for an-other round of demonstrations - this timeto protest the Lahore High Court's decisionordering the Punjab government to pro-ceed with the construction of the KalabaghDam, which has been a sticking point withthe smaller provinces including Sindh.

Willthe PPP act as a true representativeof Sindh and protect its interests or will itcave in before the demands of the Punjabfor the sake of political expediency? ;

Sindh has witnessed innumerable protests. Butthe nature of the present movementrotestquite different from the previous ones. This time,the PPP is being challenged 0n its home ground,the protest is wide spread, and its participants arefrom towns and cities and are e(onomicallywelloff. WhatI more, the rural legislators haveioinedthe ranks of the demonstrators.

but the allegations proved to be counter-productive, and further dented the image ofthe government representatives.

The movement took a serious turn whensome senior writers returned the awardsthey had received from the government.Atta Muhammad Bhambhro set the trend;he was followed by Dr Dur MuhammadPathan, who returned last year's Sitara-e-lmtiaz awarded to him for his contributionto poetry and literature. Mariam Majidi, apoet and educationist from Thatta, also an-nounced that she was returning this year'saward dedicated to her father MuhammadKhan Majidi.

Newsline Decemben 2012 I ll