HYDERABAD, Aug: 9: Thousands of political activists - including women, children, peasants and labourers - staged a rally from the district court to the press club here on Friday to mark the International Day of Indigenous Population and against the greater Thal canal project.

The march was organized by the Anti-Thal Canal Movement, comprising the Sindh National Council(SNC), Sindh National Party(SNP) and Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz(JSMM), and participated by the activists of different nationalist and other parties and organizations.

A large number of the participants had come into buses and other vehicles from different parts of Sindh. They carried banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the Thal canal project.

Speaker after speaker criticized the construction of the greater Thal canal and other anti-Sindh projects, usurpation of the rights of Sindh by Punjab and the federation and the partisan attitude of army in this regard.

The SNC chairman, Hussain Bukhsh Thebo, said that the people of Sindh had proved today that they were united against the construction of greater Thal canal and for the rights of Sindh and the Sindhi people.

He said that this was the reason that apart from the nationalist activists, the workers of the PPP, different factions of the PML and even the SDA had participated in the rally.

Thebo said that thousands of people had attended today’s rally and added that when millions of people, including women and children, were to unite on one platform, the corridors of powers would be jolted.

He said that the anti-canal movement was not at all interested in power but its main objective was to unite the Sindhi people on one platform against the construction of Thal canal and other anti-Sindh projects and conspiracies.

He said that the people of Sindh must acknowledge their mistakes as some of them were involved in anti-educational activities which had benefited the enemy.

The SNP chairman, Dr Dodo Mehri, said that Sindh, which was contributing 70 per cent of revenue to the federal kitty, had become the slave of the federation.

He accused Punjab of committing dacoities on the Sindh’s waters and warned the people of Sindh that if greater Thal canal was constructed, Sindh would be completely destroyed.

He said that due to the dacoity, Punjab was cultivating 25 million acres of land while Sindh was cultivating only seven million acres of land.

The chairman of the JSMM, Shafi Mohammad Burfat, pledged to foil the conspiracies of Punjab against Sindh.

He said those who were calling Punjab their brother and running after power were the enemies of Sindh.

The chairman, Jeay Sindh Mahaz(J), Abdul Khaliq Junejo, said that the Thal canal was more dangerous for Sindh than the Kalabagh dam.

He accused President Gen Pervez Musharraf of inaugurating the Thal canal project in a clandestine manner.

He said that the people of Sindh had two options, to support those who were against Sindh or those who were with Sindh.

The others who spoke on the occasion included Noor Naz Agha, Chacha Mohammad Ali Leghari, Din Mohammad Kumbhar, Rasheed Magsi, Nooruddin Jamali, Saleem Shahani and Roshan Buriro.

DISTURBANCE:Some people tried to disrupt the public meeting by taking up sticks and fighting against each other, which created pandemonium and disturbance in the meeting.