HYDERABAD: Activists of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Sindhi Adabi Sangat, Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party, Qaumi Awami Tehreek and lawyers’ organisations staged protests in several Sindh towns on Friday in protest against provincial government’s move to auction granite extraction from Karoonjhar Hills.

In Hyderabad, QAT activists led by Dr Gulzar Jumani, Altaf Khaskheli and others staged a demonstration outside local press club where they accused PPP government of selling off Sindh’s natural resources.

They said that Karoonjhar Hills were being sold off for money but people of Sindh would not allow Asif Ali Zardari to sell the hills and asked Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to explain why Pakistan Peoples Party government had been looting Sindh for last 15 years.

They said that pricey tracts of land from Jamshoro to Karachi had already been sold and now there were plans to sell coasts and islands. People of Sindh were being pushed against the wall, they said.

They said that PPP had always stabbed Sindhi people in the back in lieu of power. Sale of lands or Karoonjhar Hills and islands was tantamount to dacoity.

A group of lawyers, poets, political activists and writers also staged a demonstration against public auction of Karoonjhar. Lawyers boycotted court proceedings on a call of protest given by High Court Bar Association, Hyderabad.

The protesters’ leaders said that Karoonjhar was a landmark of civilisation. Sindh’s culture was directly linked with this mountain and publication of advertisement for its auction was an attack on Sindh, they said.

Sindh Adabi Sangat also staged a walk from old campus to local press club where they held a demonstration and raised slogans against the auction of Karoonjhar.

In Larkana, several political and literary organisations demonstrated outside local press club against government plans to auction off the hills.

Leaders of JSQM, PTI, SAS, STP and QAT voiced opposition to Sindh government’s move and lambasted PPP policies which were aimed at siphoning off Sindh’s resources. The sale of Sindh’s natural resources would not be tolerated at any cost, they said.

SAS leaders said that no one would be allowed to tamper with history and resources where historical remains were at risk of being damaged in the course of granite extraction.

QAT activists held protests in Dadu, Sehwan, Jamshoro and Kotri towns and lawyers protested in Dadu and Kotri against destruction of Karoonjhar Hills.

In Dadu, the party workers marched on several roads before converging on local press club where they staged a demonstration.

In Jamshoro and Kotri, QAT activists staged processions and rallies and in Sehwan, the participants shouted slogans against the Minerals and Mines Development Department.

Lawyers also boycotted the court proceedings to take part in protest in Dadu and Kotri towns. The lawyers vowed to knock at all doors and exhaust all options to save Karoonjhar.

In Kotri, the protesting lawyers demanded that PPP government should clear its position with regard to latest advertisement about Karoonjhar. The protest would continue till there remained last threat to the hills, they warned.

Published in Dawn, Aug 5th, 2023