HYDERABAD: Veteran nationalist leader Rasool Bux Palijo has revived his Awami Tehrek (AT) and announced his parting ways with the Qaumi Awami Teehreek led by his son, Ayaz Latif Palijo, observing that he (his son) is deviating from the core principles of the AT.

“It’s the Awami Tehreek that had given birth to the QAT. In the present situation, we reject the QAT and parting ways with it,” a frail and elderly Palijo told reporters while reading out from a written text at a crowded press conference at his residence a few hours after the younger Palijo led a token hunger strike against the Zulfikarabad project outside the local press club on Sunday.

He mentioned and distributed his detailed Sept 6 letter (rather a brief booklet) which he wrote to Ayaz Latif outlining his concerns in order to guide him. “But instead of correcting him, an attempt was made to show that it is not written by me and a character assassination campaign was launched on the social media, abusive text messages etc were sent to me and a storm of propaganda was resorted to to lessen the importance of my letter,” he said.

He, however, said the letter must be read by those having keen interest in politics as such letters became an important part of history documents. He said his Sunday’s meeting with his associates believed that the QAT had been directly or indirectly occupied by enemy forces. Considering the present situation, today’s meeting was convened and the important decision was announced, he said.

“It was actually the AT that produced the QAT, but considering the present situation, we reject it and revive the real AT,” he said amidst a round of applause. He said they would follow separate paths as separate entities.

From now onwards, he said, the AT had nothing to do with Ayaz Latif Palijo and his associates’ on organisational and policy issues. “The revived AT will work under my leadership,” he said. He announced formation of a large organising committee which would hold central convention on Oct 23 in Hyderabad where decisions for reorganisation and party’s policy making would be taken.

Besides, he said, a central hari conference would be held on Nov 5 in Mirpurkhas. It was resolved that Sindh’s burning issues like water, economy, jobs, mineral resources, mega projects like Bahria Town and Zulfikarabad, farmers’ issues etc. would be addressed. The AT would keep serving people, he said.

He condemned the India’s Modi government for resorting to war mongering that could put regional peace at a risk. He asked the Indian government to desist from playing into the hands of foreign powers. He called for declaring Pakistan a multi nation state.

Answering a question, he said, in his childhood, Ayaz Latif used to say that he did not like socialism and preferred capitalism. He said Ayaz Latif Palijo was named as president under compulsion after the AT failed to find someone suitable for it due to English language proficiency. “Friends advised me to get Ayaz elected as president and even Ayaz insisted he can give three days a week to the AT. We agree to it. But then perhaps agencies surrounded him,” he said.

He said he (Ayaz) was constantly advised, but he did not follow them and things were getting out of control while party colleagues kept raising voice against internal conspiracies.

When a reporter asked him if he had expelled Ayaz Latif at the behest of Faryal Talpur for opposing Zulfikarabad, he sarcastically said: “Yes, he will now do politics at her instance as if he was sitting idle at his home so far.”

Published in Dawn October 3rd, 2016