SUKKUR: Awami Tehreek (AT) leaders on Sunday accused the authorities of fresh attempts to erase the identity of the country’s nationalities through new provinces, administrative units and a possible 28th Constitutional Amendment, warning that such experiments would do grave damage to the country.
They were speaking at a party conference in Sukkur, part of an ongoing public awareness campaign against the creation of new provinces or administrative units, which they say are aimed at erasing Sindh’s historical identity. The campaign also targets the possible amendment, the “occupation” of Sindh’s mineral resources and land, and the construction of all canals and dams, including the Jalalpur project.
The speakers said the “post-hybrid” system was more authoritarian than the martial laws of the Zia and Musharraf eras. They claimed that the possible amendment and the new-province plans were even more dangerous than One Unit, which they said the Ayub dictatorship had imposed while denying the existence of the country’s nationalities, leading to the country’s break-up.
They alleged that the judiciary had been subordinated to the government through “black laws”, ordinances and constitutional amendments, and that the media had been muzzled, effectively dismantling democracy. They further alleged that provincial powers were being transferred to the federation, and that a conspiracy was under way to seize the ports and coastal belt of Sindh and Balochistan and hand them over to “American imperialism”.
The leaders said Sindh was their historic homeland and that any attack on its existence would not be tolerated. Millions of people in Sindh, they added, would continue their peaceful struggle to protect the homeland and its resources.
They also said projects that contaminated clean drinking water amounted to terrorism. They described Wapda’s plan to discharge toxic water into the Nara Canal through the Ghotki Drainage Project as a conspiracy to commit genocide against the people of Sindh. They demanded the arrest and exemplary punishment of the Wapda officials responsible, so that no one would dare in future to put the lives of millions of people, animals, birds and aquatic species at risk.
According to a statement, those who addressed the event included AT organiser Lal Jarwar, Sattar Rind, Kashif Mallah, Advocate Sarwan Jatoi, newly elected District President Zulfiqar Mirani, Sindhyani Tehreek District Sukkur President Shamshad Bappar and Rubina Bhatti.
The conference also elected a new AT District Sukkur body, with Mr Mirani as president and Mr Jatoi as general secretary. The other office-bearers are Monis Ibrahim Channa (vice president), Mehtab Bulo (joint secretary) and Riaz Malik (treasurer).
Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2026
