HYDERABAD, Jan 8: More than 50 writers, poets, intellectuals and columnists reached a unanimous conclusion on Monday that Musharraf and extremists were two sides of the same coin whose prime target was democracy, constitution, rule of law, a progressive civil society and independent judiciary and media, which were an impediment to their authoritarian and dictatorial rule.

They said at a meeting held under the aegis of Sindh Democratic Forum that the incidents of burning down everything in sight, especially in Sindh, on hearing the heartbreaking news of the murder of Benazir Bhutto, was a spontaneous reaction of people against Musharraf government.

It was a revolt against the policies of successive military governments, which first raised extremist elements under their audacious policies and were now engaged in a fake war against them in the garb of so-called ‘war on terror’, they remarked.

They said that Pervez Musharraf, Choudhry Pervez Ellahi, Altaf Hussain and Arbab Rahim were playing with fire by fanning linguistic and ethnic hatred through their speeches and advertisements. It was being done deliberately to spark more disturbances so as to find an excuse for postponing general elections for an indefinite period, they said.

The meeting decided to revive and strengthen social and cultural contacts with writers, intellectuals and citizens of other provinces as well as the Urdu-speaking Sindhis to counter evil designs of the establishment to divide the progressive and democratic forces of the country.

The meeting pledged to strive hard for bringing together all the writers, poets and columnists of Sindh in order to safeguard the interests of the province and launch a political boycott of the people who were aligned with the present regime and whose hands were soaked in the blood of Benazir Bhutto.

The speakers appealed to people to support PPP at this critical juncture for the restoration of democracy, a cause for which Ms Benazir Bhutto laid down her very life.

The forum’s convener Abrar Kazi was highly critical of the open letter of MQM chief Altaf Hussain saying he was trying to sow the seeds of ethnic divide, while Choudhry brothers were looking for a Greater Punjab. The onus was now on Sindhi intellectuals to keep the Indus Valley (Pakistan) intact, he said.

He alleged that the people who were involved in the proliferation of nuclear technology had a hand in the murder of Benazir Bhutto because she had openly declared that she would reopen the Dr Qadeer case. He had been made a scapegoat to allow other high profile figures to get off scot-free, he said.

The speakers included Zulfiqar Halepoto, Ghulam Nabi Mughal, Agha Rafiq, Shamsher Hydri, Taj Joyo and others.