May 20, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1429

KARACHI, May 19: Tribute was paid to founder of the Baloch Ittehad Tehrik (Bit) Anwar Bhaijan who had fallen victim to gangsters’ bullets three years back during his campaign against anti-social elements in Lyari.

A meeting was held on Sunday evening in the office of the organisation to remember the Baloch leader. It was presided over by known scholar Prof Ali Mohammad Shaheen and addressed by Bit leaders Abid Brohi, Yusuf Lasi, Danish Baloch and others.

The speakers lauded Bhaijan’s services to the Baloch community and pledged to work for peace and harmony, for which the founder of the party had laid down his life.

Condemning the ongoing gang warfare in Lyari, they termed it “a conspiracy against the Baloch community,” observing that conditions were being created to uproot the community from its old settlements in Karachi.

They expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order situation, and noted that a number of families had already been forced to flee their beleaguered localities of Ali Mohammad Mohalla, Shah Beg Lane, Pullpatti Lane, etc.

They also criticised the government for its failure to control the lawlessness in many parts of Lyari where gangsters roamed freely in the streets with sophisticated weapons but the law-enforcement agencies took no action against them.

Naskandi

At another meeting, leaders and activists of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) paid tribute to the services of nationalist leader Yusuf Naskandi.

The meeting was addressed by BNP leader Dr Jehanzeb Baloch, Balochistan National Congress (BNC) chief Dr Abdul Hakim Baloch, Baloch National Front (BNF) leader Abdul Wahab Baloch and others. It was attended by a large number of admirers and followers of Naskandi, who devoted his entire life to his struggle for the unity and welfare of the Baloch community. He died in May last year.

The speakers condemned successive governments and tyrant rulers for depriving the Baloch community of their constitutional rights and treating its members as “second class citizens”.

They also slammed the ongoing military operation in Balochistan, and vowed to fully support the Baloch Resistance Movement.