Sindh has been the center of Sufism and a haven for people who believed in a spiritual, pluralistic and peaceful version of Islam rather than faith enforced by terrorism. The Saints like Abdul Latif Bhittai, Sachal Sarmast, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar and Abdullah Shah Ghazi made Sindh a huge attraction for peaceful Muslims, Sunni, Shia, and non-Muslims. Although, incident of massacre of Shia Muslims in Thehri some 50 years back is one of the worst example of Takfiri terrorism in Pakistan but still takfiri terrorists could not establish in Sindh compared to other other regions of Pakistan.

There was a wide belief that takfiri Deobandi and Wahhabi terrorism will not be able to find roots in Sindh like this article states.

Living in Karachi, I always had a perception that other areas of Sindh are different from Karachi and there is lot more tolerance in upper and rural Sindh compared to Karachi. While talking to a friend from Hyderabad, I came to know that terrorists are being established throughout Sindh under umbrella of PPP’s leaders Khurshid Shah and CM Sindh Qaim Ali Shah. He pointed out that Sukkur, especially dry port of Sindh has become a hub of Deobandi ASWJ terrorists with a lot of movement of Deobandi Pashtun clerics from Khyber Pakshtunkhwa (KP) province. Later that year ISI office at Sukkur was attacked but that caused no major alarm and provincial government took no action against the Deobandi terrorist outfit ASWJ (aka SSP or LeJ). http://www.dawn.com/news/1031654

Moreover, ASWJ (A listed terrorist outfit declared by the Government of Pakistan, see serial number 32 for reference http://tribune.com.pk/story/456294/list-of-banned-organisations-in-pakistan/) started holding gatherings all over Sindh under protection of Sindh Police and their Leader Aurangzeb Farooqi started enjoying 24 hour police protocol like a very important government official.

However, when Sunni Sufi and Shia leaers of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) along with Senator Faisal Raza Abidi tried to hold gatherings in Sindh to demand operation against ASWJ, TTP and other takfiri Deobandi terrorits, it was met with harsh crackdown on their workers and leaders by Sindh government.

This did not came as surprise to people of Sindh as CM Sindh and other PPP leaders have been very generous to ASWJ for establishing their centers in interior Sindh. Anyone who has taken a road from Karachi to Khairpur is a witness of ASWJ flags all over houses and highways. One can also see state of the art infrastructure of maddrassas built amid villages that can’t afford to eat thrice a day. These madrassas are known for hosting foreign and local terrorists that carry out attack on strategic installations.

The state of Pakistan is in deep trouble because of this alliance of PPP and Deobandi takfiri ASWJ terrorists in Sindh. Now that it is clear that the recent 6 Sep 2014 attack carried out on the Naval Dockyard in Karachi was also a work of Deobandi ASWJ-TTP terrorists from Sindh. (http://www.dawn.com/news/1132045/) We will have to re-check our perception about PPP being anti terrorist party as they are already behaving like Pro terrorist PML-N in Punjab.

It is now up to people of Sindh to reclaim their tolerant and peaceful Sufi identity. PPP will have to clean up the pro terrorist element inside the party because lack of performance in Sindh along with being pro terrorist to get fear votes in coming election is a really bad strategy. The terrorist that CM Sindh is harboring have a history of biting the hand that feeds them.