1972 Language violence in Sindh occurred starting on 7 July 1972 when the Sindh Assembly passed The Sindhi Teaching, Promotion and Use of Sindhi Language Bill, 1972 which established

Sindhi language Sindhi ( ; or , ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by more than 30 million people in the Pakistani province of Sindh, where it has official status, as well as by 1.7 million people in India, where it is a Scheduled languages of India, schedu ...

as the sole official language of the province resulting in language violence in

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

. The proclamation of Sindhi as the official language of Sindh caused the ''

Daily Jang The ''Daily Jang'' () is an Urdu language newspaper headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan. It is considered one of Pakistan's newspaper of record and a leading newspaper of Pakistan. History It is the oldest newspaper of Pakistan in continuous p ...

'', an

Urdu language Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

newspaper in Karachi, to publish a full-page story on their front page surrounded by a banner with the statement "Urdu ka janaza hai zara dhoom sey niklay" (It is the funeral of Urdu thus should be a flaunting one) by Rais Amrohvi.

Violence

Violent clashes erupted in

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

and other towns in

Province, Pakistan, resulting in the deaths of at least 19 people on the third day of protests over the choice of Sindhi as the official provincial language. The demonstrations were triggered by a bill passing Sindhi as the official language instead of Urdu, spoken by half of Karachi's Muhajir population. The army was brought in to enforce a 24-hour curfew. In total, 47 people were killed in the unrest. Then President

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979) was a Pakistani barrister and politician who served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth Prime Minister of Pakistan, prime minister of Pakistan from 19 ...

planned to meet with both language proponents to find a resolution.

Aftermath

In 1972, when the PPP-led Sindh government declared Sindhi as the province's official language, groups of Muhajir students formed the Muttahida Tulaba Mahaz Karachi (MTMK). The movement started by organizing a protest-movement by changing the number plates of motor vehicles into Urdu alphabets and numerals and had vandalized English signboards. Riots later broke out between the

Sindh police The Sindh Police (Urdu: , ), is a law enforcement agency established in 1843 under a proclamation issued by Sir Charles James Napier, who became the conqueror of the State of Sindh by defeating the forces of the Talpur rulers at the Battle of Mi ...

and the MTMK in

and between Sindhi and Muhajir youth elsewhere in urban Sindh.

References

External links

Language Bill creates violence

When People Came to Blows Over Language: The Sindh Language

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's speech at Dadu(Sindh) on language riots
{{DEFAULTSORT:1972 Language violence in Sindh Politics of Sindh Riots and civil disorder in Pakistan 1972 Language violence in Sindh 1972 Language violence in Sindh Race riots in Pakistan Sindhi language July 1972 in Asia 20th-century political riots Language violence in Sindh

Violence

Aftermath

See also

References

External links