HYDERABAD: Twin blasts targeting a Rangers vehicle in Larkana on Saturday were claimed by the Sindhudesh Revolutionary Army (SRA) in pamphlets found by police at the scene, a police source said on Sunday.
The explosions which took place near a Rangers kiosk on Mirokhan Road killed a soldier and injured 15 other people, including five Rangers personnel.
The pamphlet says the SRA has taken responsibility for the attack.
Deputy Inspector General Larkana Abdullah Shaikh said police are investigating the pamphlet but no arrests have been made as yet.
“It is premature to say anything at this point in the backdrop of this pamphlet,” he said, adding that “responsibility for the blast is certainly claimed through this pamphlet.”
The separatism movement in Sindh dates back to at least the early 1970s when G.M. Syed gave the call for an independent ‘Sindhudesh’ ─ a separate homeland for Sindhis.
From then onwards, nationalism in Sindh has taken on various forms and hues. The nationalists have ranged from those who choose to work for the province’s rights within the framework of Pakistan, to more militant outfits that support separatism through armed violence.
The attack on Rangers personnel comes as the extension of Rangers’ policing powers from Karachi to the rest of Sindh is under debate.
Former Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah was set to make a decision on the issue when he was replaced by PPP’s Murad Ali Shah.
Earlier this month, the paramilitary force released data regarding arrests made in interior Sindh, claiming to have arrested 533 criminals since September 2013.
