New Delhi: Little did the Pakistani security forces know that their authoritarian control over Sindh would face a rebellious confrontation on May 20 when one of their convoys of armored vehicles was stopped by a fearless group of civilians belonging to the Sindh province.
Shouting “Kal bana tha Bangladesh, aaj banega Sindhudesh (Yesterday Bangladesh was born, today Sindhudesh will rise)”, they stood united and confronted head-on the military’s “illegal occupation” of their province.
Caught on camera, unarmed ordinary citizens – who include workers, students and farmers – blocked the Pakistan Army’s convoy powered by their courage and an resolve to get freedom.
Shared widely on X, men and women can be seen in the viral video confronting armed soldiers – accusing them of “stifling their voices”, “erasing their culture” and “plundering” their land through decades of alleged systemic oppression.
“Kal Bana Tha Bangladesh, Aaj Banega Sindhudesh”
Civilians in Sindh stop Pakistan Army convoy to confront them on camera to seek freedom from Pakistani Military’s illegal occupation. Watch the video! pic.twitter.com/CxUEres3kP
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) May 20, 2025
Sindh is a province, which has allegedly been long exploited for its resources and silenced by the “authoritarian rulers”. Unarmed ordinary citizens, who include workers, students and farmers, blocked the Pakistan Army’s convoy with nothing but their courage and a burning desire for freedom.
The resistance sent shockwaves to those in power. The protest exposed Pakistan’s fragility and signalled that the nation is on the verge of collapse despite Islamabad using all means to suppress it.
Infamous for curbing dissents with brutal unaccountable force, the Pakistan’s military today stood exposed as the crowd demanded an end to “illegal occupation”.
Led by Jeay Sindh Qaumi Movement and other nationalist groups, the agitators accused the Army of treating Sindh as a colony and siphoning off its wealth while leaving its people in poverty.
“You have taken our land, rivers and our dignity,” one protester – pointing at the soldiers, whose faces betrayed unease as the cameras rolled.
The protest and the slogan invoked the memory of Bangladesh’s liberation in 1971 – a watershed moment of Pakistan’s history of losing control over its regions because of its “heavy-handed policies”.
The reference to Bangladesh is not only a rhetoric. It is a warning that Sindh, like Balochistan and other ignored regions, is ready to break free from Pakistan’s suffocating grip.
Many see the Sindh uprising as another crack in Pakistan’s crumbling facade. Born after violent partition of 1947, the nation has been struggling for long to hold together its diverse provinces under a Punjabi-dominated military regime.
A series of attacks by the powerful Balochistan Liberation Army, including a deadly IED strike – killing 14 Pakistani soldiers, and ongoing unrest in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa highlight a country unraveling at the seams.
Inspired by the historical precedent of Bangladesh’s independence, Sindh’s defiance signals a growing rejection of Pakistan’s failed statehood, where military might and religious nationalism have suppressed ethnic identities for too long.
Although those at the helm of affairs in Islamabad may try hard to maintain their narrative of control, the demand for “Sindhudesh” – a result of economic neglect, cultural erasure and forced disappearances – is growing louder and powerful day by day.
With its crumbling economy and bloated military budget, the Pakistani state faces another movement that it cannot suppress with propaganda and guns. Like Bangladesh broke itself free from the oppressive chains of Pakistan in 1971, Sindh too is writing it story of liberation.