HYDERABAD, March 28: Trade organizations and transporters have promised a positive response to the strike call given by the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement for March 31.

This was stated by Sindh Ponam president Dr Qadir Magsi at a news conference at the press club here on Monday.

He hoped the strike would be a success because besides Ponam-affiliated nationalist parties, other parties like the People’s Party Parliamentarians, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz and the Jeay Sindh Mahaz (Junejo group) had supported the strike call.

However, he said the strike would not extend to trains and mourning processions commemorating the Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain and his companions.

Dr Magsi claimed that Ponam had given a new vision for Pakistan, which should be free from oppression and plunder of resources of Sindh, Balochistan, NWFP and the Seraiki belt.

He observed that the rulers themselves had given up the idea of a theocratic state and were advocating establishment of an enlightened and moderate state. He called for implementation of the 1940 Resolution which, he said, was the basis for such a state. He said all the nations should be given equal rights.

He reiterated that the Kalabagh dam project was being thrust on the smaller nations by force and warned that consequences would be disastrous if the opinion of the majority was not accepted.

He alleged that hundreds of people had been killed in Balochistan for demanding their genuine and constitutional rights and opposing the Gwadar port project which, according to him, would convert Balochs into a minority.

He observed that the issue of water projects should be left to people because President Gen Pervez Musharraf and the establishment had no mandate to take a decision on it.

When asked if Ponam had asked the Muttahida Qaumi Movement to participate in the strike, Dr Magsi said no appeal had been made to organizations ‘patronized’ by the government.

Answering a question about ongoing talks between Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and the government, he said nationalist parties of Balochistan had supported the strike call. He added that issues of Dera Bugti and Sui were separate things.

Other Ponam leaders, Azhar Jatoi (Sindh Hari Committee), Gul Mohammad Jakhrani (SNF), Syed Zain Shah (Jeay Sindh Mahaz), Qamar Bhatti (Jeay Sindh Qaum Parast Party) and Saleem Khan Tareen (Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party), were also present on the occasion.