HYDERABAD, May 22: Leaders of various parties have called for abolition of feudal system and distribution of lands among landless peasants.

Speaking at the 37th death anniversary of peasant leader Comrade Haider Bux Jatoi organised by the Sindh Hari Committee at Ghulam Shah Kalhoro Colony late on Monday night, the leaders paid tribute to Baba-i-Sindh as he is lovingly called by people of Sindh for his dedication to the cause of peasants and the downtrodden.

The speakers held the government and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement responsible for May 12 Karachi killings and demanded that the reference filed against the Chief Justice of Pakistan should be withdrawn and he should be reinstated.

The gathering through a resolution also supported call for three-day strike in Karachi from May 25 to 27 given by the Pushtoon Loya Jirga.

The leaders called for an end to operation in Balochistan and release of the political leaders and activists of Sindh and Balochistan including Akhtar Mengal.

Sindh Hari Committee chief Azhar Jatoi stressed the need for forging unity among people and alleged that May 12 carnage in Karachi was part of the rulers’ conspiracies to divide Sindh.

He urged the government to hold general elections and grant complete provincial autonomy and equal rights to all the federating units. He claimed that tribal disputes were engineered to sabotage the national movement and added that many political activists of Sindh and Balochistan had been systematically ‘disappeared’ and held incommunicado.

It was high time people uprooted the exploitative system of feudal and tribal lords and capitalists, he said.

Baloch nationalist leader Mir Hasil Bizinjo said that true democracy, secularism and liberalism as advocated by Gen Pervez Musharraf would remain a misnomer without abolition of feudal and capitalist systems.

Seraiki leader Hameed Asghar Shaheen said that with jagirdars and capitalists as leaders it was impossible to bring about change. Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were unable to bring change and their charter of democracy was but a joke, he said.

The gathering passed many resolutions demanding provision of jobs on merit and appointment letters for the 7,500 candidates who had cleared tests and interviews for the primary teacher posts.

Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Leader Zain Ansari STP leader Dr Abdul Hameed Memon, PPP leader Jam Saqi, Comrade Lal Khan, Nazeer Memon, Maulana Azizullah Bohio, Dr Khalil Kazi, Akbar Jatoi and Jamil Lashari also spoke at the anniversary.