HYDERABAD, April 12: Leaders of nationalist and political parties attending an All-Parties Conference have opposed the division of Hyderabad. They demanded in a resolution adopted at the end of the conference that the decision to create new districts by dividing Hyderabad should be cancelled. They termed the division of Hyderabad a conspiracy to distort the history of Sindh.
The “All-Parties Conference against division of Hyderabad” was organized under the auspices of the Sindh Tarraqi Pasand Party at the press club here on Tuesday evening.
In another resolution, the conference demanded immediate removal of the Sindh governor and the chief minister for announcing what it called the anti-people decision based on ethnic lines.
In his speech, STPP chief Dr Qadir Magsi said the division of Hyderabad was not a local issue and alleged that in fact it was a death warrant for Sindh and a part of conspiracies being hatched by the establishment for 57 years against the province.
He said the issues were raised at a time when even federalist parties had started talking of provincial autonomy.
He blamed a coalition party of the Sindh government for division of districts, saying the party wanted to take control of these districts.
Dr Magsi maintained that history would not forgive those who had divided Hyderabad into four districts.
MPA Zahid Bhurgari and MPA Ali Nawaz Shah Rizvi of the People’s Party Parliamentarians told the conference that Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim had gifted Hyderabad to the MQM and its chief Altaf Hussain which was evident from the visit of Dr Rahim to London.
They said the decision would not bring about prosperity in the newly-created districts because financial burden would be too great.
They observed that the Sindh government had taken the decision with the backing of seven parliamentarians while 15 opposition MPAs were against the creation of the new districts.
Awami Tehrik chief Rasool Bux Palejo blamed the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for the division of Hyderabad.
He said any party which come into power after the next election should rescind the decision of dividing the district, otherwise, leaders of that party would also be branded traitors by Sindhis.
He said this was a question of Sindh’s survival and added that people should not vote for supporters of new districts in the upcoming election.
Sindh National Front leader Ameer Bux Bhutto called upon political and nationalist parties to make sincere efforts to unite people of the province because unity among leaders had not yielded positive results so far. He assured the leaders of all out support of his party in the protest against the division of Hyderabad.
Prof Mushtaq Mirani claimed that the division was aimed at making Hyderabad a no-go area for Sindhis. He rejected arguments of the Sindh government for the creation of the new districts, adding that the decision had been taken with the approval of Lahore and Islamabad.
