HYDERABAD, March 31: The chairman, Jeay Sindh Mahaz, Abdul Khaliq Junejo severely criticized the new delimitations announced by the election commission for national and provincial assembly seats terming it another attack on the national identity of Sindh and the rights of the Sindhi people.

In a statement faxed to the bureau on Sunday, he said that out of 15 national assembly seats for Sindh, seven seats had been given to Karachi alone while eight seats had been allotted to the rest of Sindh.

He said that Karachi was the capital of Sindh and there should be no objection to increasing the number of seats. He, however, said that the real issue was an influx of outsiders who were not the inhabitants of the province but had been accepted as such by the commission.

Mr Junejo argued that outsiders who came to Karachi in search of jobs could be given basic human facilities but they had no right under any circumstances to decide the basic issues of the province.

He recalled that in 1970 Karachi had been given 25 per cent share in national assembly seats, which was increased to 28 per cent by Gen Ziaul Haq and had now been further increased to 32 per cent.

He claimed that the increase was aimed at converting the indigenous population into a minority.

He also refuted the claim of the election commission that the basis of the delimitation was population, and added that there was a great disparity when Sindh was compared with FATA and Islamabad.

He demanded that the distribution of seats should be revised and the indigenous population of Sindh should be given due representation.

Meanwhile, the convenor traders’ coordination committee, Sindh, and a member, Zila Council, Babu M. Ramzan Arain, who is also the Nazim of union council 18, Hyderabad city, has rejected the new delimitations saying that it would only benefit a particular political party.

URS: To celebrate the 258th annual Urs of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai from April 28, a meeting of officials of various departments was held on Saturday under the chairmanship of the Zila Nazim, Hyderabad, Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman.

The meeting was also attended by the secretary, Culture, Ashiq Hussain Memon, and the acting DCO, Abdul Qadir Mangi.

The Zila Nazim said that to spread the message of Shah Latif a seminar should be held on the first day of the Urs in which the consul generals of various countries based in Karachi be invited.

He said that the taluka Nazim, Bhitshah, and councillors be constituted on the organizing committee and a Mushaira be organized in the open air theatre, Hyderabad.