LARKANA: The Sindh United Party (SUP) took out a rally here on Sunday against the provincial government’s apathy towards flood-hit people, fast-growing inflation and religious extremism and to express its full support to the accountability process initiated against corrupt elements.

SUP general secretary Syed Zain Shah and others led the rally that started from Naudero Chowk and ended outside Jinnahbagh, where the participants held a sit-in and burnt tyres to vent their anger over what they called “height of corruption and bad governance” prevailing in the Pakistan Peoples Party-led rule.

Speaking to the participants, Mr Shah lashed out at the Sindh government for introducing a dual local government system in the past with the aim of dividing Sindh. PPP opponents foiled the move and forced the government to do away with the system, he said.

“After seeing the conspiracy failing, the PPP hatched another one and started allotting lands to outsiders to reduce Sindhis into a minority within their own province,” he alleged, and urged the masses to stand up against all such conspiracies. He said a vigorous resistance movement was needed to be launched. Roshan Kalhoro, Mir Maula Bakhsh, Dr Mazhar Mughal, Manzoor Shaikh, Abdul Karim Chandio and others also spoke at the rally.

Endorsing his call, the participants raised slogans like ‘Go Zardari go’ and ‘No corruption no’. Mr Shah claimed that PPP ministers were fleeing abroad to escape accountability of their corrupt practices by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He appreciated NAB’s actions but criticised its policy of plea bargain, saying that it was providing corrupt elements to flee the country after making partial payment of embezzled money. “They must be made to return the looted public money in full and also stand a trial,” he stressed.

He urged the Supreme Court to take notice of the plea bargain relief to the culprits. “The PPP and its long-time ally, Muttahida Qaumi Move­ment are threatening the NAB and FIA but they [the parties] must realise that their time is over as the masses in Sindh have stood up against corruption,” he said.

Another SUP leader, Roshan Buriro, said that the people of Sindh were happy over the action against corrupt officials and other elements. If the process of accountability continued, a majority of PPP lawmakers would volunteer to become approver in cases against the top party leadership, he claimed.

STP reaffirms support to anti-terror operations

HYDERABAD: The Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP) on Sunday reaffirmed its full support to the army operation Zarb-i-Azb and Rangers-led operation in Karachi.

STP chairman Dr Qadir Magsi, speaking at the two-day meeting of the party’s central committee that ended on Sunday, said the operations against terrorists must continue till the achievement of the desired results.

He said the overall political situation and operations to curb terrorism, criminal activities and corruption, besides the party’s organisational matters, were discussed at the meeting.

The meeting condemned the suicide bombing that left Punjab home minister Shuja Khanzada and many others dead in Attock on Sunday and expressed deep sorrow and grief on behalf of his party over the heavy loss of life.

Dr Magsi observed that corruption was rampant in Sindh and said that the STP central committee held the present government directly responsible for hunger and poverty prevailing in the province.

The meeting adopted resolutions observing that the government was not discharging its responsibilities diligently in the wake of flood, he said.

The party also decided to hold a rally in Hyderabad on Sept 13 as part of its ongoing campaign on a three-point agenda.

Dr Magsi said the meeting called for declaring Sindhi, Pushto, Balochi, Seraiki and Punjabi ‘national languages’ and Pakistan a ‘multi-nation state’.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2015

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