Sindh government has decided to allow the victims of Swat operation, the internally displaced people (IDP), to live in Karachi and other parts of the province. However, many people in Sindh do not want these displaced people to enter Karachi or other parts of Sindh, arguing that allowing these people to settle in Sindh will fuel ethnic clashes and aggravate the socio-economic conditions in the province.

Over the years, Sindh has become quite infamous for the ethnic clashes – including killing, plundering, wounding, and all kinds of offensives – between Pakhtoon and Mahajar populations. Members of MQM – the representative political party of Mahajar community – protested recently against the Sindh government’s decision to allow war-torn Pakhtoons from Swat to come and live in Sindh. The academia of Sindh, especially those from the social sciences, have lately warned that allowing Pakhtoons into the province can aggravate the already existing tension between the two ethnic groups. They expressed their suspicion that under the pretext of refuge, the war-affected Pakhtoons are actually being driven into Sindh for political reasons.

A Sindhi sociologist Dr. Fateh Muhammad Burfat not only disapproved of allowing war-affected Pakhtoons to settle in Sindh but also blamed the people of Swat and other war-affected area of Pakhtoon populations for being responsible for terrorism on their native land. He said that Punjab better accommodate these displaced people but Sindh was too weak economically and administratively to support the displaced Pakhtoon population. However, Singhi nationalists do allow helping war-affected Pakhtoons distantly – via funds and provisions.

Being Pakistani citizens, the displaced Pakhtoons are legally free to go anywhere in the country for working and living. But in practical terms, it is very hard for them to live peacefully in Sindh where a large part of Sindhi nationalists actively opposes them and looks down on them as ‘the others’.