DADU: Hundreds of people, mainly workers and supporters of the Sindh United Party (SUP) and Sindhi nationalist groups, attended a programme held in Sann town on Tuesday to observe the 113th birth anniversary of Jeay Sindh Tehreek founder chief G.M. Syed.

His grandson, Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, who heads the SUP, and several other senior party activists spoke to the participants to pay homage to the veteran nationalist leader.

In his speech, the SUP chief called for an independent and uncontroversial election commission to hold free, fair and transparent elections in the country in order to ensure a truly representative parliament. He said fair elections could give the country the best political system and a government sincere to the masses. He said a person with political affiliation must not become a member of the election commission.

Mr Shah also proposed setting up of a similar neutral and independent commission to be assigned the responsibility of delimitation of constituencies.

He said all major languages — Sindhi, Balochi, Pashto and Punjabi — should be declared national languages. He also demanded holding of census without any further delay, and said immigrants and foreigners should be counted separately.

Mr Shah called for investigations into corruption cases against public representatives and government functionaries and punishment to anyone found guilty.

He expressed concern over incidents of ‘enforced disappearance’ in the country and said that SUP Khairpur district president Fayyaz Khamisani and all other political and other activists who had gone missing be recovered and produced in courts.

Paying homage to G.M. Syed, he highlighted his philosophy of peaceful co-existence and religious harmony, and observed that politics and religion stood blended in this country and that’s why acts of terrorism were on the rise. He said the late leader’s philosophy provided a way to restore peace and harmony in society.

The SUP chief criticised the major parties — Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — for keeping the right to form a caretaker government under the 18th constitutional amendment, and said this had deprived other parties of their right to have representation in such a dispensation.

Mr Shah took the opportunity to announced his party’s plan to hold a rally in Karachi on Feb 26 against massive corruption and acts of terrorism in the country.

He observed that ‘corruption’ coupled with ‘flawed’ policies of the Sindh government kept people deprived of even basic amenities and destroyed institutions and departments.

He noted that PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari was currently wooing all feudal lords in Sindh so that no prominent figure stood against his partymen in the next general elections. However, he said, the SUP would field its candidates or support anti-PPP candidates on every constituency in the province

Amir Bukhsh Bhutto of the Sindh National Front, BNP Senator Jehanzeb Jamaldini, nationalist leader Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch, and SUP leaders Syed Zain Shah, Dr Dodo Mehri and Roshan Ali Buriro were among the others who spoke at the programme.

Earlier, Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah along with his family members and prominent figures of the SUP and other political and nationalist outfits went to the grave of G.M. Syed, laid wreaths and offered fateha.

Separate anniversary programmes were organised by Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz and its breakaway Arisar faction, Jeay Sindh Mahaz’s Riaz Chandio and Shafi Karnani groups, proscribed Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz, Jeay Sindh Tehreek-Sarki and Jeay Sindh Liberal Front in Sann.

Published in Dawn January 18th, 2017