HYDERABAD: The Sindh Qaumi Conference convened by the Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP) in a local hotel on Sunday rejected the recent agreements by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz with Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan. It declared the agreements ‘anti-Sindh’ and the MQM-P a ‘terrorist outfit’ which, it alleged, was nurtured and used by Islamabad for anti-Sindh initiatives.

The conference, chaired by STP chairman Dr Qadir Magsi, urged nationalist forces to form a parliamentary front in Sindh against PPP, claiming that [its chairman] Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and [co-chairman] Asif Ali Zardari had harmed Sindh politically, economically, culturally and psychologically.

It also held PPP responsible for Sindhi nation’s decline, and said people of Sindh voted the party to power but it always played an anti-Sindh role and enslaved Sindh. Sindhi youth should vote for rights of their province to challenge ‘feudal aggression’ in the shape of PPP, it said.

Speaking at the conference, Dr Magsi regretted that for the first time in Sindh’s history, a chief secretary had now been posted “on racial lines”, and pointed out that every officer would now be posted by this CS.

Conference calls for new parliamentary front against PPP, reminds PML-N of MQM’s alleged role in acts of terrorism

He accused Asif Zardari of being part of a conspiracy that was aimed at dividing Sindh. Following the 2017 assassination of his spouse, Benazir Bhutto, Mr Zardari introduced a dual LG system to lay foundation of Sindh’s division, he alleged.

He described PPP, PML-N and MQM-P as enemies of Sindh, and said STP was working on the formation of a joint parliamentary alliance against PPP in Sindh to counter these federalist parties.

Sindh United Party (SUP) president Syed Zain Shah told the conference that people of Sindh were thinking in terms of a 2013-like resistance, and said his party was ready to raise its voice at every forum. “Since the 1973 Constitution denies existence of nations, creation of administrative units is being discussed,” he noted.

“Karachi is the capital of Sindh and it should be dealt with accordingly,” he said, and noted that the points of the agreements [signed by PPP and PML-N with MQM-P] had made assemblies irrelevant and, therefore, would not be accepted by nationalist forces. “It’s a question of existence of nations,” Mr Shah remarked.

Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT) president Ayaz Latif Palijo said that Sindh was not on the agenda of the federal government. “Therefore, Sindhi people don’t have any hopes in Shehbaz Sharif, who has perhaps not read [his party’s] agreement with MQM-P,” he added. He reminded the PM that it was under PML-N government that [MQM headquarter] ‘Nine Zero’ was raided to seize record of anti-Pakistan plots, and wondered that the same party [PML-N] had now signed an agreement with MQM-P. Therefore, an explanation was required, he said.

Mr Palijo also wondered that the agreement called for consultation on census in Karachi alone while the rest of Sindh was not on PML-N’s agenda. Transparency in census for the entire province was required, he stressed. He also said that Shehbaz Sharif did not have the right to sign a pact that called for creation of administrative units. “The PM must withdraw from that agreement or face resistance from people of Sindh,” he said.

He said the chief justice of Pakistan should take suo motu notice of this “extraconstitutional agreement”.

Eminent literary figure Noorhul Huda Shah told the conference that political forces should unite on one platform. She claimed that establishment had always used different tools to push Sindh against the wall. She said nationalist parties should train their workers. “Entire system in Sindh has been converted to a tribal system … the ‘urban Sindh’ and ‘rural Sindh’ terminology is used to refer Karachi and Sindh, respectively,” she observed to express her concern.

Mushtaq Mirani, Masroor Shah, Samar Hyder Jatoi and Zulfikar Halepoto were the others who also spoke at the conference.

AT women wing holds march

Activists of the Sindhiani Tehreek -- the women wing of Awami Tehreek (AT) -- held a march from Gul Centre Chowk to the local press club on Sunday against PPP-Muttahida agreement.

Led by AT leader Abdul Qadir Ranto, Noor Ahmed Katiar, Sajjad Chandio, Hoorun Nisa Palijo and others, they held a demonstration outside the club where the leaders spoke to them.

The AT leaders said that separate agreements with MQM-Pakistan by PPP and PML-N were “an attack on integrity of Sindh”. They reminded the two major political entities that Sindh had been a homeland for thousands of years. These agreements were an attempt to convert Sindhis into a minority within their own province, they said, adding that the federal parties were harming Sindh by signing agreements with “a terrorist outfit like MQM-P”.

They claimed that [the original] Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) was created by [military ruler] General Ziaul Haq to punish Sindhis for participating in the [anti-martial law] Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD). They recalled that MQM activists had burnt people alive and was involved in terrorist activities like the May 12, October 18 and April 9 mayhems and Baldia factory fire, Nishtar Park bombing etc.

The MQM should have been banned [for its alleged involvement in these activities] but successive governments hugged it for the sake of powers, they deplored. They repeated the demand that those MQM activists who were involved in acts of terrorism be tried in courts and the party be banned.

They said the fresh agreements proved that incumbent ruling elite was not people-friendly, pro-democracy or country-friendly.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2022