KARACHI, March 23: Speakers at a meeting on Friday demanded that Sher-i-Bengal Maulvi Fazl-ul-Haq day be celebrated on March 23 to mark the day when he presented the Pakistan Resolution at Lahore in 1940.

The demand was made at a meeting organized by the Pakistan Muslim League Sher-i-Bengal A. K. Fazl-ul-Haq at Bilal Colony in Korangi on Friday.

Speakers said that Nadra officials were harassing Bengali-speaking Pakistanis who had been living here even before 1940. They demanded that corrupt Nadra officials be terminated and honest officials be posted.

They said that Bengali-speakers had been registered during the census carried out by army officials in 1998, whose names were also mentioned in the voters’ list printed in 2000. They also urged the government to ensure that genuine Pakistani Bengali speaking nationals were not harassed by corrupt officials.

Speakers demanded that an independent election commission be formed so that it could hold free and fair elections and the people could elect their true representatives.

Participants of the meeting chanted slogans in support of their demands and against Nadra officials.

Party Chief Dr Saleh Zahoor, Maulana Ismail Arkani, Mohammad Yusuf, Mohammad Yahya, Abul Bashar Mujadadi and others also spoke. Akhtar Pervaiz of PML Q and Zubair Khan of Tehreek-i-Insaf also attended the meeting.