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| July 5, 2005 | Tuesday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 27, 1426 |
Call for restoration of ‘unfettered democracy’
WASHINGTON, July 4: Politicians, scholars and human rights activists speaking at a two-day conference on Sindh in the US capital, demanded an immediate return to unfettered democracy in Pakistan. Arguing that the failure to do so could jeopardize the federation, Rasul Bakhsh Paleejo, the head of Awami Tehrik, also urged the government not to surrender all its options on Kashmir to India.
“Pakistan needs to keep some cards to negotiate a final deal with the Indians. If we give up all our options now, we will have nothing to negotiate with.”
Mr Plaeejo, who was the keynote speaker at the Fourth of July weekend annual convention of the Sindhi Association of North America, also criticized India for continuing to violate human rights in occupied Kashmir.
“The Indians do not have a principled position on Kashmir either,” said Mr Paleejo. “They took Deccan because it was a Hindu majority state and Muslim majority Kashmir as well because they say India is a secular state.”
Mr Paleejo also praised Qaudi-i-Azam as a true secular leader. He said that soon after independence Mr Jinnah made it clear that “there’s no religious majority or minority in Pakistan and all Pakistanis were equal citizens irrespective of their faiths.”
The Awami Tehrik chief blamed Mahatma Gandhi for introducing religious politics in the Sub-continent, saying that it was his doctrine of Ram Raj that encouraged Muslim leaders to bring religion into politics as well.
Mr Paleejo said that depriving Sindh of its share of the Indus was a criminal act which has caused disastrous consequences across the province. “Hundreds of thousands of acres have dried up, our sheep and cows are dying, in some places people don’t even have drinking water,” he said. “What our own brothers are doing to us is worse than what the British and the Indians had done.”
Abdullah Riar, a PPP senator, said that unless socio-economic conditions in Pakistan changed, even democracy will not improve the fate of the poor.
“There may not be more than 1,000 people who control Sindh. About half a dozen people run an entire district. And these are the ones who have usurped people’s rights,” said Mr Riar.
“Unless power was taken away from them and returned to the people, nothing will change,” he said.
Mr Riar advised Pakistanis living in the United States to stay engaged with their home country. “Take time out, visit your native district. Go with your skills and your money. Start a school. Dig a tube well. Open a dispensary. Engage with the media. Try to affect the process of decision making,” said Mr Riar while telling Pakistani-Americans how they can help bring about a change in Pakistan.
Akbar Khawja, another PPP senator, urged the US administration to expand its relationship with Pakistan by reaching out to the people and their true representatives.
Senator Khawja also appealed to the military to realize that a prolonged army rule was not only bad for the country but also for the military.
He disputed the government’s claim that it had brought prosperity to Pakistan, arguing that during the last six years life has become even more difficult for the ordinary people.
Murad Shah, a PPP member of the Sindh Assembly, said the PPP continues to be the largest party both in Pakistan and Sindh. He said that in Sindh, the federal government managed to bring in a minority government by arranging the defection of some PPP lawmakers. “But a government formed with such negative tactics cannot continue for long. That’s why Sindh is facing one political crisis after another. The present setup is destined to fail and it will fail soon,” he said.
Aziz Narejo, SANA’s president, read out the resolutions adopted by the conference, supporting demands for Sindh’s share of the Indus, return to unfettered democracy and end of political victimization.
The group demanded that the distribution of financial resources among the provinces be made on the basis of revenue generation.
SANA also demanded that the military budget should be reduced and more Resources should be diverted to education, health and other social sectors.
The convention described provincial autonomy as the core issue in Pakistan and demanded that provinces be granted autonomy according to the 1940 Pakistan resolution.
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