LAHORE, May 8: Political leaders and advocates of Sindhi nationalism on Tuesday pleaded for sovereignty and autonomy to all provinces with the authority to write a new social contract with the objective of redefining their relationship with the federation.

At a `national dialogue’, sponsored by the Minorities Rights Commission, they asserted that the powerful establishment of the state always strengthened the center in a state which was multi-national in character. As a consequence a model of rule by force emerged and the center deprived the people of smaller federating units of their right of even taking decisions about their education, health and socio-economic development.

They were of the view that such a deplorable state of affairs weakened the statehood because the provincial resources remained in the hands of the center which governed the state with the help of feudal lords to begin with and then engineered military interventions. The religious forces, they said, extended their hand of cooperation to both the undemocratic dispensations.

Jiye Sindh Mahaz chairperson Abdul Khaliq Junejo, Awami National Party secretary-general Mohammad Ehsan Wyne, PPP leader Prof Iujazul Hasan, ARD’s joint secretary Syed Manzoor Gilani, a former secretary of the Lahore High Court Bar Association Abid Saqi, Labour Party Pakistan secretary-general Farooq Tariq, National Commission fore Justice and Peace secretary Peter Jacob, research scholar Akram Mirani and historian Dr Mubarak Ali spoke at the ceremony.

Mr Junejo said that the Jiye Sindh Mahaz was not indifferent to the plight of the exploited classes in Punjab and wanted to address the nationalist and class questions by integrating them in their struggle for achieving their rights. He said the question of Sindh nationalism cropped up soon after the partition when Sindh’s middle class, comprising mainly a religious minority, was driven to India and the vacuum was filled by feudal lords who joining hands with the elite classes of other provinces and established Pakistan as their personal fiefdom. The situation was aggravated with the settlement of migrants from India after the allotment of lands to civil and military officers along the barrages.

He traced the history of the national question in different provinces and said that it got a boost when the state imposed the system of One-Unit in 1955 which meant that the state was aiming at depriving different nationalities of their historic, geographical and cultural identity. He was of the view that even the 1973 Constitution failed to address to the root cause of the problem by ignoring the question of autonomy and introducing a concurrent list to add to the gravity of the question.

Mr Ehsan Wyne said that the country owed its creation to Bengal and Sindh whose assembly adopted a resolution in favour of Pakistan four years ahead of the Lahore Resolution of 1940. The Punjab rulers did not want a separate state because it was under the rule of the Unionist Party. He said that the question of rights should be seen in the context of classes because the fight was against the oppressive system which was being perpetrated by the feudal class which invited the armed forces to intervene to mutilate the democratic and secular face of the country. He was of the view the rulers had engaged the clerics for support right from the beginning. He pleaded for a reduction in the armed forces and their budget which, he said, should be approved by parliament like other expenditures and subjected to audit.