KARACHI: The Sindh Bachayo Committee (SBC), comprising representatives of many nationalist groups and some major political parties, has announced the launch of the third phase of its struggle to save Sindh’s resources from usurpation and its demography being changed.

“As part of our current drive against influx of internally displayed persons (IDPs) into Sindh, we have decided to hold a long march on Sept 29,” SBC convener Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah announced at a press conference after presiding over a meeting of the committee at Haider Manzil on Tuesday.

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He said that activists and supporters of all parties and groups having representation in the SBC would take out rallies across Sindh and converge on Sharea Faisal in Karachi on Sept 29 to take part in the march up to the Sindh Assembly building to record their protest over settling of the IDPs in the province “to convert Sindhis to a minority within their own province”.

The meeting, attended by Dr Niaz Kalani, Prof Mushtaq Mirani, Meer Alam Marri, Riaz Chandio, Qamar Bhatto, Abdul Fatah Channa, Ejaz Sameto, Soofi Hazoor Bukhsh, Zahida Abro, Syed Zain Shah, Dr Shams Siddiqui, Shabbir Rajpar, Noor Ahmad Memon, Dr Badar Ujjan, Syed Munir Haider Shah, Suleman Abro and Zahida Detho, discussed the earlier phases of the drive against IDPs’ influx.

He said all participants in the meeting expressed their satisfaction over the impact of the drive and agreed to intensify the drive to force the federal and provincial authorities to stop allowing entry and settlement of the IDPs from North Waziristan.

Mr Shah said that the meeting was of the view that settling of non-Sindhis in large numbers was bound to endanger the demography and identity of the province, which was known for religious tolerance in its people for centuries.

The majority’s following of Sufism and cultural and ethnic linkages to the Indus civilisation would also come under threat by the heavy influx, he added.

Mr Shah said that in the third phase the SBC would create awakening against arrival of IDPs in Sindh in the cover of development projects like Zulfikarabad, Thar Coal project, Bahria Township and auction of lands which was a conspiracy to take over resources of Sindh and change the demography of Sindh.

He said that the SBC drive was aimed at highlighting the adverse impact of the IDPs’ settlement in the province and mobilise the general public to join the struggle to save Sindh from it.

The SBC leader said that a mass contact and awareness campaign in this regard would be started on Aug 22 during which activists would also apprise other people of the demerits of certain anti-Sindh projects and invite them to join the SBC struggle for their own survival.

In reply to a question, Mr Shah said that the first phase of the drive had started on July 3 when the SBC raised its voice against IDPs arrival through press conferences and the second phase began with sit-ins on highways on July 9.

According to him, the Supreme Court had observed some time back that over two million illegal immigrants were present in Sindh, and said that all of them should be sent back to their countries of origin, beginning with Afghans.

IDPs from Swat should also be repatriated to their hometowns as the region had now become peaceful.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2014