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| November 12, 2001 | Monday | Shaba’an 25, 1422 |
Ponam leaders slam ‘coal loans’ to non-locals
MITHI, Nov 11: Mehmood Khan Achakzai, the vice president of the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (Ponam), has emphasized the need for formulating a new social/political system and elimination of a sense of deprivation among the people of small provinces, who are living miserable lives since the last few decades owing to the monopoly of the Punjab over the affairs of the country by usurping the resources of small provinces.
Speaking at a public gathering the other day, he said, the discovery of oil in the Middle East had made the citizens of the Gulf states prosperous, but the irony is that Sindhi, Baloch, Seraiki, Pakhtoon were living a miserable and semi-nomadic life despite the fact that vast deposits of coal, granite, petrol, gas, and other minerals had been found in Thar, Balochistan, and the North West Frontier Province.
He said that Ponam had not come into existence to rebel against the country or the government or to injure the feelings of the people of any political party but its chief objective was to strengthen a democratic system which could give equal rights to all the people of various provinces.
Dr Qadir Magsi, the chairman, Ponam, Sindh, said that the best quality granite, which was not found in any part of the world, and coal, China clay, and salt had been found in abundance in Thar but no industry or power plant had been established there, and added that more shocking was the fact that the federal government intended to gain control of Thar coal and the loans for these minerals were being given to non-locals in the names of Tharis. He claimed that the non-locals were reluctant to even keep Tharis as labourers.
Another Ponam leader, Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch said that the living standard of our people had not improved and they continued to live in poverty because they kept on making the big mistake of voting for and electing Waderas, Jagidars, and the wealthy Choudhrys, who were never sincere with the poor.
Other Ponam leaders who spoke on this occasion included M.A. Bhutta of the Seraiki Movement, Akhtar Khan of the Seraiki Party, Syed Zain Shah of the Jeay Sindh Mahaaz, and Jalal Mehmood Shah (general secretary, Ponam).
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