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KARACHI: Sindh nationalist parties on Sunday condemned the government’s decision to roll back the commissioner system in Karachi and Hyderabad and termed it the first move to divide the province into two distinct entities.
They called for a province-wide strike on Monday. The provincial chapter of ANP also criticised the decision.
Addressing separate press conferences at Karachi Press Club, chief of Jeay Sindh Tehrik Dr Safdar Sarki and chairman of Sindh National Party Amir Bhambro said that at least three other nationalist parties — Awami Tehrik, Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party and Jeay Sindh Qaum Parast Party — had announced support for their strike call. Condemning the move in strong words, they said if the ordinances that put the government’s decision into force were not withdrawn soon the people of Sindh would begin laying siege to the residences of ministers.
Criticising the PPP in strong terms, Dr Sarki said the party had betrayed the people who had given it the mandate to form governments in Sindh and at the federal level. Just to prolong its rule, the PPP had once again surrendered before the MQM.
Mr Bhambro said the decision was akin to stabbing the people of Sindh in the back. “We appeal to the lawmakers in Sindh Assembly to reject the two ordinances whenever they are presented for approval,” he said.
He urged the legislators to discharge “their duty and prove that they are Sindh-friendly”.
Chief of the provincial chapter of PML-F’s cultural wing Gulab Chandio said it was wrong to suggest that Pir Pagara had been consulted before the decision. On Monday, he said, his party’s lawmakers would meet Pir Pagara to evolve a stance on the issue.
Addressing a press conference at his office, JSQM chief Qamar Bhatti said Sindh was not a fiefdom of the PPP and the party had no right to present Hyderabad and Karachi to the MQM on a platter just to save its provincial and federal governments.
Addressing a press conference, chief of the Sindh chapter of Awami National Party Shahi Syed said the decision showed that the PPP had given in to the MQM demands for division of Sindh along ethnic lines.
He said his party had not been consulted before the decision. He termed the ordinances as black laws that should be withdrawn immediately.—Staff Reporter
