QAT holds protest against PPP-Muttahida pact
HYDERABAD: Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT) chief Ayaz Latif Palijo has said that all ruling parties have disappointed people of Sindh, hence Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz have no right to take any decision about Sindh.
Palijo was speaking at a demonstration organised by his party outside local press club on Saturday against the recent power-sharing agreement between PPP and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).
He said that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi must desist from talking about creation of administrative units in Sindh.
He announced holding of sit-ins outside Sindh Assembly, Governor’s House and Sindh secretariat in protest against this agreement which was aimed at dividing resources of Sindh.
He said that Sindh was not a fiefdom of any feudal lord that could be presented on a platter to anyone for the sake of vested interests. No party would be allowed to bargain over Sindh’s rights, he said.
He said that MQM-P had not delivered anything to Urdu-speaking community over its 25 years of politics in Karachi and Hyderabad. PPP had only looted and plundered Sindh, he said.
He said that MQM-P failed to ensure a proper drainage system in Hyderabad and Karachi despite having remained in power for decades. Interests of minorities, haris, workers, women and children were not on the agenda of these parties, he said.
He said that people of Sindh did not get anything regardless of who was at the helm of affairs in the province. People would not tolerate any attack on the integrity of Sindh and they would also not accept that Governor’s House should be handed over to a “terrorist”. Sindh’s rule should be handed over to Sindh’s friends, he demanded.
He said that if men like Dr Adeeb Rizvi were appointed as governor, Sindhi people would distribute sweets.
He said that Sindh had been destroyed and people had been made to face hunger and unemployment due to policies of present PPP government. Educated youth did not get jobs but judiciary remained silent, he said.
Palijo said that federal government should explain its programme for Sindh. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif should now perform in an outstanding manner for the whole country. Harmony and equality would lead to development, he said.
He said that Sindh did not have employment opportunities. Sindh’s farmers did not receive water for their crops and their farmland was turning barren. Sindhi and Urdu-speaking people were brothers and the two communities would live together for thousands of years but no enemy of Sindh would be accepted in Governor’s House, Sindh secretariat and public service commission, he warned.
JSQM’s Dr Niaz Kalani, Deeba Sehar, Zeenat Samoon, Ashraf Palijo, Dr Aziz Talpur, Dr Gulzar Jumani, Punhal Sario and other leaders also attended the protest.
Nationalists protest arrest of JSQM-A leader
Activists belonging to different Sindhi nationalist groups on Saturday held a protest demonstration outside the local press club on Saturday for the release of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz-Arisar (JSQM-A) chairman Aslam Khairpuri and withdrawal of a case against Jeay Sindh Tehreek (JST) leader Niaz Karnani.
Khairpuri was allegedly whisked away by the Thatta police on April 7 while he was returning to Mirpur Bathoro after attending the 6th death anniversary of a party colleague, Shafi Karnani. Khairpuri was among 18 suspects nominated in a case registered against them at the Thatta police station under sections 124-A, 147, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and sections 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorisim Act.
The protest was led by Arbab Bheel, Shahnawaz Bhatti, Amjad Keerio, Sarmad Mirani and others.
The protesters claimed that many activists of nationalist groups had been picked up by security agencies over the last several years and their whereabouts were still not known. They vowed to keep struggling for “freedom of Sindh”,
They argued that if missing activists were wanted by police in any criminal case, then they should be produced in courts of law.
Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2022
