February 06, 2008	Wednesday	Muharram 27, 1429

KHAIRPUR, Feb 5: The Jeay Sindh Mahaz convener Abdul Khaliq Junejo on Tuesday criticised the Sindhi intellectuals who took part in a conference of Sindhi and Urdu-speaking intellectuals convened by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement a day ago.

He said at a press conference in Gambat that Urdu-speaking people should have joined Sindhis’ struggle for their rights, which they had been carrying on for last 60 years.

“Sindhis comprise a multitude of communities speaking various languages but none of them insists on a separate identity. Why then the Urdu-speaking people insist on a separate identity,” he asked.

He justified people’s reaction to the assassination of Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto and called it natural. The human rights organisations and missions of the members of civil society who visited Sindh in the wake of post-Benazir murder violence found that nobody had been subjected to injustice during the disturbances, he claimed.

If Sindhis set ablaze a passenger train they did it after ensuring that the train’s passengers including women, children and men were provided safe shelter at their houses, he said.

He said earlier in his addresses at a number of corner meetings and a seminar on “Right of Self Determination and Sindh” on Monday and Tuesday that the rulers were not ready to abide by the provisions of 1940 Resolution, which formed the very foundation of this country.

He said that the rulers did not accept the existence of the people who laid down great sacrifices for the country. The government ignored a resolution passed by the Sindh Assembly against the construction of Kalabagh Dam and Thal Canal, he said.

Similarly, it took no notice of a resolution passed by the Balochistan Assembly against the construction of cantonment in the province and went ahead with its plans, he said.

He deplored that the decisions of provincial assemblies of Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP had been ignored during last 60 years.

JSM leaders Hashim Khoso, Imdad Chachar, Yasin Sindhi and Shabbir Sindhi also spoke on the occasion.