HYDERABAD, March 1: Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz chairman Basheer Qureshi has announced that the party will organise a march from Sukkur to Karachi from March 18 to protest against excesses against Sindh and ‘enforced disappearance’ of nationalist leaders.

Speaking at a news conference at the party media centre in Qasimabad on Thursday, he predicted that the march, named as “Paigham-i-Sindh, would be participated by tens of thousands of people and was aimed at creating awareness among the people.

He said before the inception of Pakistan, Sindh was a prosperous state but today, 60 per cent of its population was living below poverty line.

He said Sindh was rich in natural resources including petroleum, gas and minerals but Sindhis were living a miserable life and lawlessness, poverty, hunger and unemployment had become the order of the day in the province. He said 70 per cent of the population was deprived of basic facilities like clean drinking water, education, health care and food security.

He said one million educated youth with university degrees was running from pillar to post to seek employment. He said money received through tax collection in Sindh was taken away by the federation.

Qureshi said that petrol, gas and coal were extracted from 43 different places of Sindh but Sindhis were deprived of their ownership.

He said in Karachi alone, 2200 factories were owned by foreigners where non-Sindhis were employed. He said water projects were being constructed to convert the rich agricultural lands of the province into desert.

He said two islands of Sindh, spreading over 6000 acres of land, had been sold out to outsiders against billions of rupees as the property of federation. He said when the workers of the nationalist parties raised voice against this tyranny, they were arrested and made to disappear.

He said under a planned conspiracy, extremist elements were being encouraged.

Answering a question, he said that the Baloch leaders believed in armed struggle but his party believed in the non-violence ideology of Mr Syed. He urged what he called friends of Sindh to forget their petty differences and raise a collective voice for the rights of Sindh.