KARACHI, Jan 20: Representatives of all Sindh-based nationalist parties have given a joint call for a strike on Jan 24 after reaching a consensus strategy to resolve the basic issues confronting the province.

An announcement regarding the strategy would be made after the Eid holidays, they said. According to a Sindh National Front (SNF) release, the consensus was reached at a meeting of the representatives at the residence of Mumtaz Ali Bhutto.

The meeting took serious notice of the prevailing situation in Balochistan and urged the government to initiate a dialogue with Baloch leaders instead of resorting to army action. The meeting noted that Sindh nationalists had always been supporting their counterparts in Balochistan and in future also, that would do the same.

Those who attended the meeting included Bashir Khan Qureshi and Khalil Ansari (Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz), Haider Shahani and Ali Hassan Chandio (Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party), Hussain Bux Thebo and Dr Dodo Maheri (Sindh National Council), Abdul Khaliq Junejo and Dr Ali Ahmed Rind (Jeay Sindh Mahaz), Syed Ghulam Shah (Sindh Thinkers Forum), and Gul Mohammad Jakhrani and Ayub Shar (Sindh National Front).

Meanwhile Sindh National Front chairman Sardar Mumtaz Bhutto on Thursday invited the Muttahida Qaumi Movement to support the strike call given by the nationalist parties for Jan 24 to protest against any military operation in Balochistan and the alleged rape of a doctor in Sui. - PPI