January 16, 2008	Wednesday	Muharram 06, 1429

HYDERABAD, Jan 15: A 25-member delegation from Punjab, in a bid to remove misunderstanding among Sindhis against Punjab, has met with civil society leaders of Sindh and expressed grief over PPP leader Benazir Bhutto’s assassination.

The delegation was led by civil society leaders Mohammad Muneer, Dr Shaheen and Ms Amina who met with representatives of the South Asian Partnership, Ghaffar Malik, Ilyas Khokhar and others in Qasimabad here on Tuesday.

They said that Ms Bhutto was not only the leader of Sindh but also of Punjab and the entire country, and added that the people of Punjab were mourning Ms Bhutto’s death like the people of Sindh.

However, the Sindh civil society leaders said that the people of their province had suffered the most due to the murders of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto and in the Movement of Restoration of Democracy. They also highlighted the disappearance of many nationalist leaders. They said that the Sindhis, therefore, were very angry. They alleged that though a common man of Punjab was not involved, the establishment could not be absolved of these atrocities.

The Sindhi leaders underlined that the people of Sindh had always welcomed the people from all over the subcontinent after the partition and provided jobs to outsiders but had had always received corpses in return.

The visiting leaders from Punjab said that the martyrdom of Ms Bhutto had jolted the entire nation, and added that all the four provinces would now have to unite on one platform against the murderers.

They said that the main purpose of their visit was to remove misunderstandings between Sindhis and Punjabis.