HYDERABAD, Oct 22: Sindh Bachayo Committee (SBC) convener Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah has said that the Sindh People’s Local Government Act, 2012 is an attack on the integrity of Sindh and that the LG system being introduced by the government has been rejected by the people of Sindh.

Speaking at a public meeting held on Monday in Mir Ghulam Ali Park, Tando Mohammad Khan, the SBC leader said that the ongoing struggle against the law would continue till the law was repealed. The new system was more harmful than the ‘One Unit’, which was resisted by Sindh people, he added.

“This public meeting is a referendum against the PPP-introduced LG system,” he declared, and told the audience that the recent PPP public meeting in Hyderabad was a ‘flop show’.

Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP) chairman Dr Qadir Magsi also vowed to continue the struggle against the new LG system till the last drop of blood. Rejecting allegations levelled by several PPP leaders, he said that the ongoing movement was not sponsored by (PML-N chief) Nawaz Sharif or the government. “This is a movement of true sons of the soil,” he said, adding that Sindh people had made the province a ‘no-go area’ for those who had betrayed Sindh by imposing the system that was aimed at dividing Sindh. He alleged that the government was taking anti-Sindh decisions to appease its ally.

Awami Tehreek president Ayaz Latif Palijo said that the new LG system was a conspiracy to divide Sindh. “The Zulfikarabad project is also part of a plot to separate Karachi from Sindh,” he added.

Referring to a statement of President Asif Ali Zardari, Mr Palijo said that nationalists wanted to hold killers of their leaders and party colleagues accountable. The victims included Bashir Khan Qureshi, Ghazala Batool, Malik Nohani and Altaf Khaskheli, he said.

Jeay Sindh Tehreek chairman Dr Safdar Sarki said that the masses had already given their historic judgment against the new LG system. “Government’s torture cells and killing of nationalists cannot sabotage the ongoing struggle,” he said, adding that nationalists would counter this aggression against Sindh.

Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz-Bashir vice-chairman Akash Mallah said that people of Sindh were fully capable to protect their motherland. The ongoing movement against the LG law was aimed at saving Sindh and it would continue till success, he vowed.

Sindh Hari Committee chairman Azhar Jatoi said the PPP government had dug its own grave on by staging a poor show on Oct 1.

PML-N Sindh leader Saleem Zia said that people had rejected the LG law and that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif was also fully supporting the people of Sindh on the issue. The new LG system was a conspiracy to create a new province from within Sindh, he added.

Qamar Bhatti of the Jeay Sindh Qaum-parast Party, Asif Baladi, Abrar Kazi, Ali Hasan Chandio and others also spoke.

Meanwhile, SUP convener Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah visited the STP hunger strikers’ camp at Naseem Nagar on Monday and expressed solidarity with the protesters.

The hunger strike entered its 16th day on Monday.

Accompanied by other SUP leaders including Shah Mohammad Shah and Dr Dodo Mehri, Mr Shah paid tribute to STP for continuing its struggle for the rights of Sindh people. He said the day was not far when the government would have to bow to the aspirations of the masses and repeal the law.

Mr Shah told the media that the new LG system was a deep conspiracy against Sindh.

STP leader Muzaffar Kalhoro said that the government had laid the legal and administrative foundation for division of Sindh by introducing the law.