23 February 2005	Wednesday	13 Muharram 1426

HYDERABAD, Feb 22: Leaders of a number of political, nationalist, religious and social organizations have termed the proposed division of the district a move to divide people by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and stressed the need for coexistence.

They warned that any move to bifurcate the district to please one ethnic group would be strongly resisted. They were speaking at a seminar on "division of Hyderabad on ethnic basis" organized by the Sindh National Party at the press club on Tuesday.

SNP chairman Ameer Bhambhro said that those who were trying to divide the district were not friends of Sindh. He said the SNP party was not against the Urdu-speaking people but against some elements who were trying to divide Sindh.

He said the MQM was only paying a lip service to the cause of Sindh and added that they had never come out on the roads against the Kalabagh dam and greater Thal canal. He accused the ethnic group of hatching a conspiracy to divide Sindh on the lingual basis.

Mr Bhambhro said that if any attempt was made to divide the district, the move would be resisted and the ethnic group would be held responsible for post-division consequences.

He announced that all roads of the district would be closed by political and nationalist parties in protest against the bifurcation of the district. PPP leader Maula Bux Chandio said the people living in Sindh were Sindhis but the rulers were trying to create ethnic riots to prolong their rule.

He said the MQM loudly proclaimed that they were Sindhis but they had not made any announcement that they would leave the government if the Kalabagh dam was constructed.

He said the bifurcation of Hyderabad district would be resisted and warned that the people of Sindh would not allow division of districts and handing them over to "terrorists" and Jagirdars.

MPA Zahid Bhurgari and MPA Farheen Mughal said the MQM was trying to divide the district by black-mailing Arbab Ghulam Rahim. The elected representatives said that Sindh was not any one's fief that it should be divided into pieces and handed over to "terrorists".

They said that they would raise their voice on the issue in the Sindh Assembly on Feb 25. Jamaat-i-Islami leader Maulana Abdul Waheed Qureshi said that the bifurcation of Hyderabad district would not be accepted on ethnic basis.