KARACHI, March 7: The Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (Ponam) has decided to launch an anti-government campaign from March 8 by holding a series of public meetings and rallies in the interior of Sindh.

This decision was taken at the meeting of the central body of the movement held here on Monday which was attended by the heads of component parties of the Ponam. According to the programme, in the first phase of the campaign, the Ponam will hold a meeting at Jamshoro on March 8, followed by Dadu (9th), Larkana (10th) and Shikarpur (11th).

The leader of Balochistan National Party (BNP), Sardar Akhtar Mengal, said that after visiting Sindh, the Ponam leaders would also address protest meetings in Balochistan. The Ponam has also given a call for a country-wide wheel jam strike for March 31.

Unfolding the decisions of the meeting, Ponam Chief Sardar Ataullah Mengal told newsmen that the movement would press the government to scrap the Kalabagh dam, Thal canal and Gwadar mega projects, besides the cancellation of illegal allotment of land in Gwadar and the Saraiki areas.

Chaired by Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal, the meeting was attended by the Ponam Secretary General Jalal Mehmood Shah, BNP chief Akhtar Mengal, Sindh National Party Chairman Mumtaz Bhutto, Pakhtoonkhawa Milli Awami Party chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai, National Party Chairman Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch, JSTPP chief Dr Qadir Magsi, Jeay Sindh Qaum Parast Party leader Qamar Bhatti, Jeay Sindh Mahaz leader Zain Shah, Saraiki National Party chief Abdul Majeed Kanjoo and NWFP nationalist leader Mir Afzil Khan.

The meeting also extended the term of office of the current chief till the next general council meeting. Talking to newsmen, Atauallah Mengal criticized the colonial approach of the federal government, and said if the government was sincere in resolving the crisis, then it would have seriously initiated a comprehensive dialogue.

When his attention was drawn to a statement of PML leader Chaudhry Shujat stating that the president had accepted 27 points out of 31-point recommendations of the parliamentary committee, Ataullah Mengal clarified that the Ponam would not even accept 29 and a half points.

Responding to a question, Mr Mengal said, "we are not inviting any political party to join our campaign." However, he added that there was no bar on any party joining the protest campaign.