THATTA, July 8: Activists of nationalist parties took out a procession from Makli to Thatta on Sunday to voice their concern over the effects of Zulfikarabad city project on the demography of Sindh.

The participants were carrying party flags, wearing black armbands and raising slogans against the project. Some of them fired in the air.

They covered a distance of three kilometres and staged a sit-in on the National Highway outside the press club in Thatta. The sit-in caused suspension of vehicular traffic for over an hour.

Addressing the protesters, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz’s acting chairman Dr Niaz Kalani said the Zulfikarabad project would lead to settlement of non-local people in the coastal area of Thatta and accelerate the process of conversion of Sindhi people into a minority in Sindh.

He termed the project more harmful than Kalabagh dam project for the people of Sindh who, he said, were aware of conspiracies hatched against them and would never allow them to succeed.

Dr Kalani said the enemies of Sindh were daydreaming about its division.

Sindh National Movement chairman Ali Hassan Chandio said the project was part of an international conspiracy, adding that PPP’s popularity had been adversely affected by the announcement about the project.

Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum chairman Mohammad Ali Shah said he feared the project would lead to displacement of people of the coastal area.

Awami Tehrik’s senior vice-president Dada Qadir Ranto said the PPP was betraying the people who had voted it to power. Ibrahim Soho of Jeay Sindh Tehrik said the project was designed to appease coalition partners who were bent upon dividing Sindh.