HYDERABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), its breakaway faction, the PPP-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB) and several nationalist parties continued their protests in different parts of Sindh over Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain’s proposal regarding creation of new administrative units in the province and vowed to defend ‘integrity of the province’.

The PPP-SB and the Jeay Sindh Inqilabi Mahaz (JSIM) organised separate rallies in Hyderabad to condemn the MQM proposal.

They marched through the streets of Hyderabad and held separate demonstrations outside the local press club.

Carrying party flags, banners and placards, the participants raised slogans against the MQM and vowed to defend Sindh’s integrity at any cost.

Speaking to PPP-SB activists, Syed Aslam Shah, Piral Majidano and others said that no Sindhi would allow anyone to divide the motherland.

JSIM chairman Ghazi Khan Solangi and other office-bearers speaking to their supporters vowed to defend Sindh till the last drop of blood, and said that the MQM chief was again out to saw the seed of hatred to pit Urdu- and Sindhi-speaking people of the province against each other.

PPP-SB president Ali Ahmed Palepoto, senior vice president Kashmir Khan Jakhrani, and the party’s Sindh council member Sheikh Azizur Rehman in a joint statement criticised the MQM chief for talking about division of the province.

They said his proposal offended the people of Sindh who considered the Urdu-speaking people as Sindhis. They regretted that the MQM still considered them as Mohajirs (refugees) 65 years after they were declared equal citizens of Pakistan. Qaumi Awami Tehreek leader Ayaz Latif Palijo in a statement issued on Sunday said that terrorists were roaming about in in Karachi with complete impunity killing innocent people.

He said that had the Supreme Court rulings in the Karachi lawlessness case been implemented and action taken against militant wings of political parties, the situation today would have been different. But the PPP government and its allies did not implementing the rulings and the culprits of the May 12, 2007 bloodshed, Nishtar Park carnage and Benazir Bhutto assassination were not arrested and punished, he said.

Mr Palijo said the PPP-led coalition was not serious in arresting terrorists.

UMERKOT: Senior Minister for Education and Literacy Nisar Ahmed Khuhro on Sunday reiterated PPP’s stand that all moves aimed at dividing Sindh would be strongly resisted.

Speaking at a ceremony held at a high school here on Sunday to distribute over job offer letters among candidates of primary teacher posts, the senior PPP leader said dividing Sindh was no children’s game.

He declared that all anti-Sindh conspiracies would be foiled with full force, and recalled that the entire Sindhi nation had taken to the streets of the province on the issue of Kalabagh dam. Warning that talk of a new province from within Sindh would only saw the seed of hatred, Mr Khuhro said all people living in Sindh and speaking any language were disapprove of a Sindh division on any grounds. “It’s only one party that has occasionally been coming out with new slogans and new issues for its own survival,” he added.

SUKKUR: Leaders of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) speaking at a meeting and to the media at Loco Shed in Rohri on Sunday expressed the concerted view that sit-ins in Islamabad and Karachi, demand for a separate province, the proposal regarding creation of new administrative units in Sindh, sectarian unrest and certain other developments were part of a conspiracy hatched by anti-Islam forces to dismember Pakistan.

JUI-F deputy chief Maulana Abdul Qayoom Halejvi, Moulana Abdul Karim Abbasi, Qari Abdul Ghaffar Soomro, Moulana Abdul Haq Mahar and Attaur Rehman Abbasi appealed to Pakistanis and Muslims around the world to unite in order to foil the conspiracy against Pakistan. The meeting, presided over by Moulana Khadim Hussain Jatoi, reminded the nation that “Pakistan is Qila-i-Islam (fort of Islam) and Sindh is Babul-Islam (gateway to Islam)”, and warned that the conspiracy was not only aimed against Pakistan but against Islam. They said that in order to keep the country intact, the nation must ensure integrity of Sindh. Every Pakistani should regard it as a religious and national obligation, they added.

They severely criticised Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain for reverting to his demands for dividing Sindh and rights of so-called Mohajirs, and said his renewed demands came at a time when there was no issue of Mohajirs or a province for them.

They argued that if others in Sindh were victims of excesses and injustices, the Sindhi-speaking people also victims of such things but Mr Hussain in his recent speeches talked only about Mohajirs which contradicted all his earlier claims, slogans and contentions.

Activists and supporters of the Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto and its youth and student wings held a protest demonstration outside Jacobabad press club on Sunday and raised slogans against the MQM and its chief, Altaf Hussain, for demanding new administrative units in Sindh.They vowed to strongly resist any attempt to divide Sindh.

Earlier, they took out a rally from the party’s Jacobabad district office and converged on DC Chowk to hold a sit-in for one hour. They torched an effigy of the MQM chief

A similar protest was held outside the Sukkur press club, where PPP-SB activists carrying placards and banners raised slogans against the MQM and division of Sindh.

SHIKARPUR: Local chapter of the PPP led by Taqi Abbas Kamariyo on Sunday spoke to a large number of activists leaving for Gharhi Khuda Bukhsh Bhutto to offer fateha on the graves of Bhuttos.

Speaking to the media on the occasion, he said every PPP jiyala would stand up if anyone tried to work on the idea of dividing Sindh.

He said PPP would foil all anti-Sindh conspiracies as it had done in the past.

NAWABSHAH: Activists and supporters of the PPP-SB held a demonstration outside the local press club on Sunday and raised slogans against the MQM and its demand for new administrative units.

Speaking to them Altaf Baladi, Ali Sher and Tufail Memon said that the MQM chief wanted a clash between his community and Sindhis in the province.

They said PPP would not tolerate moves to divide Sindh on any grounds.

All such moves would be resisted tooth and nail, they added.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2014