HYDERABAD: Paying tributes to Comrade Hyder Bux Jatoi for his relentless struggle for the rights of haris, speakers vowed to continue his mission to advocate the cause of the downtrodden people.

They were speaking on Wednesday at a programme held in Sindh Museum under the aegis of Sindh Hari Committee to observe the 55th death anniversary of Comrade Jatoi.

Speaking on the occasion, committee leader Samar Jatoi said that peasants’ rights would have to be protected for which he would leave no stone unturned. He said Jatoi had challenged military dictator Gen Ayub and launched a revolutionary movement. He pledged to follow the same path. He said haris and labourers should maintain discipline in the rank and file.

He said the peasants should unite themselves to seek the rights of Sindh. Mr Jatoi faced trial and tribulations during the dictatorship, but he did not give up, he added.

He said the labour leader had loved Sindh which he reflected in his poem titled ‘Jeay Sindh, Jeay Sindh’. He said Hyder was a writer as well.

Samar Jatoi vowed to continue the mission of Jatoi and his family through hari committee’s platform.

He said Kotri Barrage’s downstream flows were not being released despite the fact that Indus river was the source of livelihood for the people of Sindh. He added that sea intrusion was resultantly increasing. He said the committee was part of anti-canal struggle in Sindh.

Communist Party of Pakistan general secretary Imdad Kazi said Sindh had always struggled peacefully and the anti-canal struggle was also entirely peaceful. He said Sindh demanded unified struggle today.

Others who also paid rich tributes to Comrade Hyder Bux Jatoi included National Party leader Taj Mari, Sindh Hari Committee leader Mir Munawar Talpur, Nehal Abbasi, Idris Jatoi, Amanullah Shaikh and G. M. Leghari advocate.

The gathering also adopted various resolutions: the six-canal project should permanently be shelved; the Sindh government should cancel allotment of land given for corporate farming in Sindh and give 15 acre land to each landless peasant in the province. Land should also be given to the haris who did not have home; water share should be obtained from Punjab under Water Accord 1991 and be judiciously distributed in Sindh, the resolutions read.

One resolution condemned lawlessness in Sindh and observed that the education and health sectors had been destroyed. It demanded an end to corruption in those sectors.

Others condemned the incidents of honour killing and tribal clashes and urged the Sindh government to take measures to control it. It demanded an end to enforced disappearances’ cases and called for withdrawal of 26th Amendment and Peca.

Samar Jatoi and others also laid a wreath on the grave of Jatoi.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2025