November 10, 2008	Monday	Ziqa'ad 11, 1429

HYDERABAD, Nov 9: The Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz on Sunday opposed the proposal of further division of Hyderabad district to create a new district of Qasimabad and said that it would be against the interests of the people of Qasimabad.

Speaking at a news conference at the party’s media centre in Qasimabad, the JSQM chief organiser Dr Niaz Kalani said that the people now in the government had strongly opposed the division of Hyderabad into four districts when they were in the opposition

Mr Kalani said that the vested-interests were now trying to split Hyderabad further. “This will be against the interests of the people of Qasimabad,” he said and appealed to other political parties to join opposition to the move.

He drew attention to the language used in signboards and other publicity material put up in Qasimabad and said that they should be in Sindhi because 100 per cent population of the area comprised Sindhi speaking people. The UNO had declared in unequivocal terms that mother tongue should be used for better understanding of things, he said.

The JSQM was, therefore, starting a movement to persuade people to use Sindhi in advertisements as well as signboards put up in Qasimabad, Mr Kalani said.

He said that Karachi and Hyderabad were being converted into another Waziristan, which should be a matter of serious concern for the people of Sindh, and stressed the need for forging an alliance of secular political parties to combat the threat of religious fanaticism and terrorism.

JSSF: The Sindh University chapter of the Jeay Sindh Students Federation on Sunday accused the administration of encouraging religious extremists on the campus and appealed to authorities to take strict action against what it described as Talibanisation of the university.

JSSF general secretary Abdur Razzaq Shaikh said at a news conference that about 50 religious extremists armed with lethal weapons stormed the university hostels in the night on Oct 17, and forced students to assemble in the mosque of Samiullah Kalhoro hostel.

But they ran away after JSSF activists challenged them, he said while showing pamphlets and stickers, which according to him had been left behind by them.

He said that when they held a demonstration at the campus the following day, a false case was registered against them and another false case was registered against the central vice-president of the federation, Hafeez Pirzado, on Saturday through a transporter.

He accused the university administration of encouraging religious extremists, which had as a result destroyed peaceful atmosphere of the university.

He said that the JSSF had always struggled for the rights of students and ensured availability of books and other facilities for them. They had also held protests for the rights of students, much to the annoyance of the administration.