Are Sindhis in Pakistan “extremists and miscreants”?

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) has advised all Sindhi-language TV channels not to portray Sindhis as “extremists and miscreants”.

The regulator has also advised these channels to respect the code of conduct agreed upon in 2015 and refrain from promoting themes and subjects that glorify violence in Sindhi plays, according to a press release issued on Thursday.

“In these dramas, Sindhis are being projected as extremists and miscreants in sheer disgrace to the social and cultural values of the province,” PEMRA said in a press release Thursday.

PEMRA pointed out that such content also violated several clauses of the Electronic Media Code of Conduct 2015.

It said that the public had expressed concern over the themes and topics of these dramas and the complainants said Sindhis were peace-loving people.

Moreover, all Sindhi TV channels are also directed to appoint and properly engage in-house editorial committees for improvements of the content in line with clause 17 of the Electronic Media Code of Conduct 2015 and share details of these committees with the Authority within 15 days.

Plights of Sindhi peoples

Sindhis in Pakistan face hate and discrimination in everyday life.  According to World Sindhi Congress representatives, "Sindhi people are facing one of the worst human rights atrocities in their history and in recent months there have been intensification in disappearance of Sindhi political activists by Pakistani security agencies."

And in all these cases, the state denies any role and the judiciary has also failed to provide any relief. These disappearances are part of an operation by the Pakistani state to create terror and stop political and civil society activists from raising their voices for democratic and human rights." Sindhi political activists receive regular threats for raising their voices against the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is "unsustainable, anti-environment and anti-people."

The Pakistani establishment is ruthlessly crushing any voice against the unsustainable, anti-environment, anti-people, CPEC project. There is systematic unsustainable immigration with designs to convert Sindhis into minorities in their own land, loot of resources and occupation of lands pushing the Sindhi people into perpetual poverty.

Unfortunately, Sindh produces 70 percent of Pakistan's wealth, 72 percent of its gas, 54 percent of its oil and 23 trillion tons worth of coal deposits, and is reeling under cruelty and suffering.