KARACHI: Abdul Khaliq Junejo, chief of his own faction of the Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM), said on Friday that vandalising of the historic entities of Sindh, Balochistan and what was then the NWFP 60 years ago by merging them into the One Unit was a decision against the country and its people.

Speaking at a public gathering held by his party at Sachal Goth to observe the 46th anniversary of the abolition of the One Unit, he said the rulers had always taken wrong decisions that ultimately caused huge damage to the country and “now Pakistan is notorious for being a centre of terrorism”.

“No one else but our rulers are responsible for the increasing isolation of Pakistan in the world.”

Mr Junejo said the ruling elite had been denying the rights of the nations [communities] that had historically inhabited this part of the world, in the name of Islam, yet the country had lost everything even in the eyes of the Muslim world.

“It is evident from the fact that the Muslim countries are eagerly befriending India instead of Pakistan.”

Despite the abolition of the One Unit, said Mr Junejo, Sindh had lost its grandeur and glory as the influential lords and Pirs who got people’s votes for decades betrayed the masses and ‘looted’ their wealth.

He said time was ripe to lead people to shun the present mode of rotten politics and adopt a progressive and healthy way with the sole intention of improving the economic and social conditions of the people of Sindh.

“We should go for politics which is not contaminated by racism, ethnic prejudices, extortionists and criminals.”

The meeting passed resolutions demanding acceptance of the country as a bouquet of several nations and grant of autonomy to the provinces as enshrined in the 1940 resolution.

They demanded that the government issue work permits to everyone entering Sindh because the province was overburdened by incessant migration from other provinces and elsewhere in the world.

The meeting demanded eviction of four million illegal aliens from Sindh and said those hailing from other provinces should not have the right to vote and purchase property in the province.

It termed the large residential schemes in the province a part of a plan to ‘colonise Sindh’ and demanded a ban on such projects.

A resolution demanded declaration of Sindhi as a national language and the official language of Sindh and measures to enforce its use in offices and courts.

The participants demanded separation of religion from state affairs, ban on the controversial Council of Islamic Ideology and abolition of all laws which discriminated against women.

Imdad Qazi of the Communist Party, the JSM’s Hashim Khoso and writer Gul Hasan Kalmati also spoke.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2016