KARACHI: Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal on Sunday accused rival Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Pakistan Peoples Party of exploiting the sentiments of Mohajirs and Sindhis for their petty political gains.

“When MQM raises the slogan of a new province, PPP starts exploiting ethnic sentiments of Sindhis by chanting slogans that Mohajirs are trying to divide Sindh dharti maa [motherland] and seeks their support,” he said while addressing a workers’ convention here.

PSP president Anis Kaimkhani and other leaders were also present.

He said the PPP practically asked Sindhis across the province to forget about bread, cloth, shelter, dog-bite deaths, malnourished and stunted children, unemployment, its own incompetence and corruption and be united to stop the division of Sindh.

“Thus on linguistic grounds, both the parties manipulate the sensitivity of disgruntled, deprived and desperate ethnicities to prolong their tyrannical rule,” he added.

He said that Urdu-speaking community had elected MQM 11 times in the past four decades, but had utterly failed in getting even their fundamental rights.

Similarly, he said, Sindhi brothers had been electing PPP for the last several decades, but they also failed in getting basic rights and were forced to live a miserable life, he said.

He stressed that he was proud to be a Mohajir, but would never do ethnic politics.

Mr Kamal asked people to ‘sacrifice a day to end PPP’s oppression’ and join him against ‘controversial’ Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act 2021 on Jan 30 at Tibet Center to march on Chief Minister House.

He asked the provincial government to withdraw the new law and restore the local government system of 2001 with more powers and that too after deliberations with stakeholders.

He also suggested to make three constitutional amendments to eradicate terrorism from the country and claimed that it would solve the problems of every region of Pakistan.

The PSP chief said that the rural-urban quota system was implemented by the bigwigs of the PPP, but their descendants were not giving even the allocated 40 per cent quota for the people of urban Sindh.

He alleged that PPP was recruiting its cadre from other districts of Sindh by issuing them fake domiciles of urban Sindh.

He said that the PPP claimed to have spent Rs10,242 billion, but Sindh had become a worst province to live. However, he said, he spent Rs300bn and Karachi became one of the 12 fastest growing cities in the world during his tenure as city mayor.

Condemning the Rs3 per litre hike in petrol price, Mr Kamal said that incompetent and failed rulers, who had promised to commit suicide before taking loan from the International Monetary Fund, had “sold Pakistan to IMF”.

“Instead of eradicating poverty, the government is eradicating the poor by constantly raising the prices of petroleum products,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2022