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MULTAN, Dec 13: ARD chief Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan has said a meeting of the alliance in Lahore on Dec 19 will chalk out the future course of action, which may include a countrywide campaign for the restoration of democracy.
Talking to journalists here on Friday at an Eid Milan Party arranged by the local chapter of his Pakistan Democratic Party, the octogenarian politician said none of the previous military regimes had so ‘shamelessly’ meddled in the political affairs as did the present one. He said the adventurers-in-uniform might have had varying abilities but they had a similar mindset with regard to concentration of powers in their hands.
Commenting on the situation in Sindh, he said the majority party was denied the right to form government. He alleged that the deal to block the way of the majority party had been struck with an organization “which had bathed the port city in blood”.
He said the MQM had been a part of the ARD but quitted the alliance after developing differences over the key demand for restoration of the 1973 constitution.
He lamented that protest rallies against the American war mania were being held throughout the world, but Pakistan and its people had assumed the role of silent spectators.
CONVENTION: The Multan Powerlooms Owners Association will organize an All Pakistan Convention here on Dec 29 to highlight the problems being faced by the powerloom sector.
This was decided at a meeting held on Friday with association president Muneer Husain Ansari in the chair while PML-N MPA Babu Nafees Ansari was the chief guest.
Association’s secretary-general Khalid Qandeel Sindhu said the powerloom owners associations of Karachi, Haiderabad, Tando Adam, Kasur, Hafizabad, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Jhang, Jalalpur Jattan and Gujrat had also been invited.
He said a delegation comprising the activists of Multan and Kasur would soon start contacting powerloom owners of other cities to make the convention a representative moot of the powerloom sector.
The meeting decided to continue movement against high power tariff, income tax and sales. The recent 12 per cent reduction in power rates was only a ‘cosmetic’ measure which could not help rehabilitate the sick powerloom sector, it said.
The association would stage a protest rally at Manzoorabad Chowk on Dec 22 to reiterate its demand of meaningful cut in the electricity price, the meeting added.
DEMOCRACY: The real democracy can not take root in the country without doing away with the dominance of a province.
This was asserted by Seraikistan National Front’s secretary-general Ahmed Nawaz Sumro in a press statement issued here on Friday.
He said the constitutional and political crisis in the country could not be ended by only restoring the civilian institutions.
Equal representation of all federating units in the centre and a just allocation of resources among them could only give an environment conducive to democracy, he said.
Mr Sumro said this goal could only be achieved with the creation of a Seraiki province as afterwards the size of population and area of five provinces would give birth to a more democratic and sustainable federation.
He also demanded a special quota in jobs for Seraiki people besides more develo- ment budget for education, health and infrastructure in the area.
