It was the second week of July 2001. There was a lot of activity in the capital, Delhi, and Agra. The entire country, or rather, South Asia, was closely watching this activity. The reason was Pervez Musharraf’s visit to India, which was starting on July 15th. By then, the hero of the Kargil War had become the ruler of Pakistan. Musharraf had become the dictatorial president. Since the wounds of Kargil were still fresh, Musharraf’s visit was surrounded by curiosity, hope, and apprehension. As is the case with such visits, diplomatic preparations were also extensive. Just before Pervez’s visit, Pakistan, in its usual style, began exerting diplomatic pressure on Kashmiri self-determination. A day or two before the visit, the Sindhi community in Delhi organized an event to mark Musharraf’s visit. When Pakistan’s attempt was mentioned to the chief guest of the event, then Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, he warned Pakistan from the stage, “If Pakistan raises the Kashmir issue, India will retaliate by raising the issue of Sindh’s self-determination.” This incident is being mentioned because, exactly twenty-four years later, the country’s Defense Minister, Rajnath Singh, has publicly stated that Sindh could become part of India in the future. A section of the country has long hoped for a change in India’s borders. However, their focus has been more on Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir than on Sindh. The Sindh issue has been relatively less discussed and less noticed. However, since this statement has been made by the country’s Defense Minister, the matter becomes serious. This may be Rajnath Singh’s personal opinion, but he is the second-in-command in India’s official ruling Modi cabinet. Therefore, his words carry greater weight, and their impact is bound to have a national and international impact.Before Partition, the majority of Sindh’s population was Hindu. In common parlance, the people there are called Sindhis. The Hindu community here considered the division of Sindh neither practical nor appropriate. Today, it is Pakistan’s third largest province, with an area of ??140,914 square kilometers. The Rann of Kutch in Gujarat and the Thar Desert of Rajasthan lie to its east, while the Arabian Sea washes its feet to the south. Karachi, located on the shores of the Arabian Sea, is Pakistan’s economic hub, just as Mumbai is India’s economic capital.Regardless of where the Hindu community lives in the world, during their religious and ritualistic activities, worship, etc., they first purify themselves with a mantra, and they also purify the water used in the worship with a mantra. That mantra is, “Gange cha Yamuna chaiva Godavari Saraswati, Narmade Sindhu Kaveri jalesmin sannidhim kuru.” This means that I perform this ritual with the water of the Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswati, Narmada, Sindhu, and Kaveri. This mantra clearly indicates that for centuries, the Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Saraswati, Narmada, Sindhu, and Kaveri rivers have been the holiest rivers in Indian wisdom and culture. Their waters have been the carriers of our civilization, and through them, our culture and civilization have flourished. The Sindhu, one of India’s seven sacred rivers, flows through the Sindh province. From this perspective, the importance of Sindh to India becomes clear. Lal Krishna Advani, a native of Sindh, wrote that the people of his generation in Sindh could not accept the partition of India. Rajnath Singh also mentioned this article in his lecture. During his political heyday, Advani organized an event called the Sindhu Darshan Yatra, which aimed to connect the people who had migrated to India through the Sindhu and to keep their memories alive.Lord Mountbatten planned the partition of India under a law passed by the British Parliament. He entrusted this task to Cyril Radcliffe, a legal expert. Radcliffe lacked knowledge of geography and culture. He failed to take Indian realities into account when formulating the partition. He also lacked an understanding of cultures. This impact was evident during the partition. The Radcliffe Line became a symbol of his folly. His uncultured thinking led to the terrible devastation India suffered at the time of partition. If the partition appears artificial in many places, it is due to Radcliffe’s lack of understanding of culture, geography, and ground realities.For this reason, even in Sindh, voices, albeit faint, for merger with India have continued to be raised.
