HYDERABAD, Jan 28: The Hyderabad chapter of the Progressive Writers Association of Pakistan said at a condolence meeting on Monday that Benazir Bhutto’s sacrifice would spur the movement for democracy and people’s rights.

The meeting presided over by Dr Khalil Qazi observed two minutes silence as a mark of respect for the departed soul and said her martyrdom had done serious harm to struggle for democracy and the cause for the poor. The meeting expressed grief over the sad demise of Maulvi Abdul Hayee, former principal of the Government College Larkana and father of intellectual Jami Chandio and Shah Inayat, son of noted poet Rashid Morai, and decided to hold a condolence reference for Ms Benazir on Feb 9.

At a seminar on “Martyrdom of Benazir Bhutto and the People of Sindh” organised by the Sindh Rural Development Society in Tandojam the speakers said that tens of thousands of innocent people had been implicated in different cases under Anti-Terrorism Act following Ms Benazir’s murder. The situation in Sindh was worse than it was in 1971, they said.

They complained that the resources of the province were in the control of outsiders, people were being pushed against the wall, their lands were being occupied, their oil was being pilfered and they were being deprived of employment.

They said that Sindhis had been strangulated economically after 60 per cent share in employment reserved for rural population had been arbitrarily gifted to a particular group.

They charged that no development work had been carried out in Sindhi localities of the major cities and villages of the province, and constituencies in the cities had been demarcated on ethnic lines down to union council level.