HYDERABAD: Sindh Tara-qqi-pasand Party (STP) chairman Dr Qadir Magsi has accused Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari of working in league with international powers to divide Sindh.

He said that Zardari wanted to become king and install his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari as prince of the ‘remainder of Sindh’.

He demanded a new social contract for people and said establishment must apologise to people for its past mistakes if it wanted to ‘reconstitute’ Pakistan.

He was addressing his party’s ‘motherland’ programme at Hatri bypass late on Friday night.

PPP leaders Asif Zardari and Bilawal were enemies of Sindh as PPP of Benazir Bhutto had been buried. A conspiracy was afoot, he alleged, to divide Sindh. “Bilawal Bhutto has promised [to international forces] that we will be better off with Sindh of five to six districts,” he claimed.

Addressing the establishment, he said it had always punished people like Ghaffar Khan, G.M. Syed, Nauroz Khan, Khair Bux Marri and Jam Saqi who had tried to educate real rulers how to run Pakistan.

He said that Gen Asim Munir must understand if he was worried about threats to Pakistan’s integrity then he must realize that neither Sindh nor Balochistan was responsible for it. “It is your [establishment] lust for power that has brought Pakistan to this sorry state,” he said.

He asked the army chief to nab Pakistan’s 10,000 millionaires and billionaires, including sugar and textile barons. “Collect $100m from 1000 of these 10,000 and $10m from the rest of 9,000 to settle debts of Pakistan and save it from civil war which I foresee,” he said.

His efforts, he said, were not respected by nationalists and they created obstruction in the creation of a nationalists’ parliamentary front. He had now changed his strategy and those who wanted to get along GDA, Imran Khan and MQM would not be invited by STP, he said.

“I will not have complaint against these people and I will unite middle class belonging to Jeay Sindh Tehreek, left wing and those who challenged Gen Zia,” he said.

He said that he would unite Sindh’s intelligentsia as well to create new a parliamentary forum and get new ‘symbol’ to challenge these looters and jagirdars.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2023