HYDERABAD, Jan 1 A large number of leaders of political parties and civil society and artistes gathered at the shrine of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai on Thursday to celebrate the new year.

The gathering organised by the Sindh Hari Porhiyat Council announced that the 2009 would be observed as the “Year of Sindh`s ownership, national unity and struggle”.

The council president Punhal Sario said in his speech on “new year, new message” that Sindhi peasants had being fighting a war of resistance against the oppression and tyranny since the rule of Mogul emperors.

Right from Sufi Shah Inayat to Nazeer Abbasi and from Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to Benazir Bhutto, the leaders of Sindh had laid down their lives for the noble cause, he said.

Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz chairman Bashir Khan Qureshi said that time had come for the Sindhis to unite on one platform and launch a joint struggle for their independence.

Sindh would get soon rid of oppression and tyranny, he said.

Communist Party of Pakistan leader Arz Banglani, Awami Tehrik leader Sattar Sarki, Hanif Sagar Burdi of JSQM, Wahab Bandrani, Suleman Kakar and others paid homage to the great Sufi at his tomb.