Jinnahpur

Jinnahpur refers to an alleged plot in Pakistan to form a breakaway autonomous state to serve as a homeland for the Karachi based Urdu-speaking Muhajir community.^[1] Mohajirs are immigrants who came to Pakistan from India in the wake of the violence that followed the independence of Pakistan in 1947. The alleged name to be given to the proposed breakaway state was "Jinnahpur", named after Mohammed Ali Jinnah. In 1992, the Pakistani military claimed it had found maps of the proposed Jinnahpur state in the offices of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (now renamed Muttahida Qaumi Movement), despite the party's strong denial of the authencity of the maps. Despite the party's strong commitment to the Pakistani state, at that time government of Nawaz Sharif chose to use it as the basis for the military operation against the MQM, known as Operation Clean-up.^[2]

In August 2009, two senior military officers at the time (one of them Brigadier Imtiaz Billa) of the operation claimed that the maps had been fabricated.^[3] According to them the Jinnahpur maps were false allegations and an attempt to divide the nation. Their stance was immediately challenged by Major (R) Nadeem Dar, then an ISI officer, who claimed to have recovered maps and related documents personally after raiding MQM headquarter and sent them to Major Haroon and Major Nadeem^[4]

References

• , Dawn.com, 26 August 2009
• Migrants and militants: fun and urban violence in Pakistan, Oskar Verkaaik, 2004, pp78
• Inside Pakistan: 52 years outlook, Sanjay Dutt, 2000, pp260,