24 January 2005	Monday	13 Zilhaj 1425

HYDERABAD, Jan 23: The provincial unity council of the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement at its recent meeting here criticized the army operation in Balochistan and the criminal assault on a lady doctor.

It endorsed a call of the Sindh National Front, Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, Jeay Sindh Mahaz and the Sindh National Council to observe a complete strike throughout Sindh on Jan 24 against the army operation and the assault on the doctor. The nationalist parties had taken the decision at a meeting at SNF chief Mumtaz Ali Bhutto's Karachi residence.

The Ponam meeting appealed to people of Sindh, especially the business community and political parties, to observe the strike on Monday to express solidarity with people of Balochistan.

Speaking on the occasion, STPP chairman Dr Qadir Magsi, who is also president of the Sindh chapter of the Ponam, said the rulers would be responsible for consequences of the operation in Balochistan.

He said the smaller nations had joined Pakistan because equal rights had been guaranteed to all of them. He said the rulers could not keep the federating units together at gunpoint and warned that the operation could lead to dismemberment of the country.

Dr Magsi said Sindhis and Balochs were an integral part of each other and the people of Sindh would not tolerate any army operation against Baloch people. He said following the assault on the lady doctor, nationalist forces of Sindh had demonstrated a strong reaction but their protests had gone unnoticed because they had no representation in assemblies.

The meeting demanded that culprits involved in the incident should be arrested and given exemplary punishment. In another resolution, it demanded that the house-to-house search in Sui, Dera Bugti and other areas should be stopped forthwith and a peaceful atmosphere be restored there.

The meeting also decided to hold protest meetings in Daharki and Jacobabad on Jan 30 and 31 respectively against the Kalabagh dam and greater Thal canal projects, inordinate delay in announcement of the National Finance Commission award, rampant lawlessness, unemployment, acute shortage of water in Sindh, usurpation of its natural resources and the Balochistan operation.

Opposing the proposed bifurcation of the Hyderabad district on ethnic lines, it observed that creation of new districts by the Sindh government at the insistence of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and landlords would not benefit the masses. It noted that a division of Hyderabad would render a serious blow to the culture, literature, economics and political process in Sindh.

Those who attended the meeting included Sindh Thinkers Forum's Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, Sindh Hari Committee leaders Azhar Khan and Akbar Jatoi, SNF leaders Gul Mohammad Jakhrani and Ayub Shar, JSM chairman Syed Zain Shah and Mansoor Khaskheli, STPP leaders Haider Shahani and Nandlal Malhi and Jeay Sindh Qaum Parast Party leaders Dodo Deshi and Syed Munir Shah.

Meanwhile, activists of the Sindh National Party, led by Wahid Sangrasi, Ashraf Noonari, Ghulam Shabbir Inqalabi, took out a motorcycle procession in three talukas of the Hyderabad city on Sunday to appeal to people to observe a strike on Monday.

The procession started from the Hyderabad Press Club and marched through main roads and important business centres of the city. The participants carried banners and placards and raised slogans against the army operation in Balochistan and the assault on the lady doctor.

They appealed to people to observe a strike on Monday to express solidarity with the Baloch people. The Shaheed Fazil Rahu Yadgar Committee also endorsed the strike call of the nationalist parties.

Committee secretary Dr Khalil Qazi asked followers of Shaheed Fazil Rahu to support the strike against the Balochistan operation and the assault on the lady doctor.

OUR JACOBABAD CORRESPONDENT ADDS: President of the Awami Tehrik Rasool Bux Palijo has said that conspiracies are being hatched by the vested interests to plunder remaining resources of smaller provinces.

Talking to newsmen at the press club here, he said that a military operation in Balochistan was a well-planned move to subdue the province and warned that it would threaten the integrity of the country.

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