11 November 2004	Thursday	27 Ramazan 1425

HYDERABAD, Nov 10: Activists of political and social organizations have comdemned the Jirga system and karo-kari as practices of retrogressive forces and given a clarion call to the masses to rise against these social ills.

They were speaking at a seminar "Karo-kari bill and Jirga system; Murder of Justice or Supremacy of Law" organized by the Awami Tehrik on Tuesday.

Awami Tehrik chief Rasool Bux Palijo said the karo-kari bill and the Jirga system were deep-rooted conspiracies against Sindh.

He demanded that all persons who had murdered men and women after dubbing them as karo and kari be hanged in line at one place.

Similarly, he said, those who had organized Jirgas by violating the law of the land, the Constitution and the Islamic injunctions should also be pilloried.

Mr Palijo said that the holy Prophet (PBUH) had completely wiped out the tribal system but the rulers of Pakistan were reintroducing this tyrannical system which existed in the Age of Ignorance.

He said feudal lords were the cronies of the generals.

He accused the rulers of patronizing unscrupulous and unconscionable people who were involved in the cold-blooded murder of innocent women.

He said that karo-kari was not an ordinary crime but an international offence.

Mr Palijo said Sindh was being economically destroyed and all its resources including water and employment had been usurped by the powers that be.

He said the government was totally helpless before ordinary criminals who had kidnapped Santosh Kumar and hoodlums who had destroyed education in Sindh. Mr Palijo said that all this was being done intentionally under a planned conspiracy to destroy Sindh.

He warned that if there was no Sindh then there would be no Pakistan.

He said that the rulers had crossed all limits and pushing the people of Sindh against the wall.

He appealed to the people of Pakistan to rise above ethnic and political affiliations and launch a peaceful struggle to enforce the writ of law in the country.

Prof Mushtaq Mirani said the introduction of Jirga system in Sindh was a part of the "great game" of Islamabad under which the rulers were trying to muster support for feudal lords.

He said that the rulers enjoyed support of 26 per cent population of the urban areas through an ethnic organization and now they were trying to strengthen the hands of feudal lords to maintain sway over the entire Sindh.

Prof Mirani claimed that 40 million people of Sindh reject the Jirga system and they would never ever accept the servitude.

He said that Sindhis would move the International Court of Justice against those who were empowering feudal lords to perpetuate their rule over Sindh.

Sindh National Council leader Hussain Bux Thebo said that under the feudal system, a woman was not a human being but a commodity.

Prof Qamar Wahid, former Sindh minister Muzaffar Sadiq Bhatti, Shabbir Shar advocate, Shahida Shaikh, Afzal Gujjar, Badin District Nazim Kamal Chang, Amar Sindhu, Ayaz Latif Palijo and MPA Jam Tamachi spoke on the occasion.

RESOLUTIONS: The seminar adopted several resolutions rejecting the tribal and feudal system.

A resolution demanded that the proposed law to give a legal cover to the Jirga system should be shelved, judicial system be made effective and the rule of law be rigidly enforced.

The seminar demanded that all the people directly or indirectly involved in karo-kari be tried in anti-terrorism courts and awarded deterrent punishment.

It demanded that a compensation of Rs800 billion be paid to Sindh for the losses due to theft on its waters and usurpation of its resources.