HYDERABAD, Jan 15: Noted historian and writer Dr Hamida Khuhro has said that calls for a war and expulsion of certain groups of people will not help the people of Sindh.

Sindh today needs unity more than ever before.

She was addressing a conference organised by the G.M. Syed Foundation on 'Lahore Resolution 1940 and the role of Sindh' to mark the birth anniversary of G.M. Syed here on Sunday.

Mohammad Ibrahim Joyo, Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, Advocate Rochi Ram and Dr Abu Salman Shah Jehanpuri also spoke at the conference.

Ms Khuro said: 'Those who have settled in Sindh after partition are accepted. It gives strength to Sindh. There are countries where people have settled from other areas. Seeking to expel someone will be a death wish.

She said that Mr Jinnah himself was not convinced about Pakistan. 'He considered the 1940 Resolution to be a bargain chip in dispute with Congress. It meant that if Congress did not address Muslims' concerns the Muslim League would go its own way,' she said.

Ibrahim Joyo, quoted from his article which had appeared in a newspaper in 2006, and said that G.M. Syed had tabled a resolution which he called 'Pakistan Resolution' on March 3, 1943,in Sindh Assembly.

But delivering the debate on the resolution it emerged that the subcontinent was a multination region. Sheikh Abdul Majeed Sindhi had argued that Sindh would not accept domination of any other nation or the central government.

Ayub Khuhro had said that Sindh wanted complete independence from the central government.

Mr Joyo said that 24 members (40 per cent of the total 60 members) supported the resolution in the Sindh assembly while three members opposed it. G.M. Syed's speeches were clear that supremacy of any other nation or a central, whether secular or non-secular, government was unacceptable whether Sindh remained in India or Pakistan, he said.

Jalal Mehmood Shah said the GM Syed Foundation was documenting material to compile a resource material for students of history.

'We want to compile history of Sindh which will highlight our failures and successes. Rest is to be done by researchers,' he said.

Advocate Rochi Ram said Pakistan was to be a federation with autonomous provinces and Sindh having an equal share in this federation.

'Those who deny provincial autonomy are in fact the country's enemy. Nationalists do not get votes although they have a principled stand.

We, therefore, need an organised political organisation,'he said.