THATTA, Sept 30: Most speakers at a multi-party conference were of the opinion that political, and not administrative, motives were behind the creation of Sujawal district from within the existing geographical boundaries of Thatta district. They suggested that the Pakistan Peoples Party in view of its track record of governance could not be trusted any more.

Convened under the aegis of the Jeay Sindh Mahaz (JSM) at the local press club on Monday, the conference was attended by head of the locally influential Shirazi group and former district nazim Syed Shafqat Hussain Shah Shirazi, Sujawal Shehri Ittehad chief Abdul Khaliq Mallah, Qaumi Awami Tehreek leaders Bilawal Lashari and Comrade Hassan Sammo, PPP-Shaheed Bhutto executive committee member Younis Bhan, HRCP representative Nazir Jakhro, Aziz and activists of various other political and social organisations.

Mr Shirazi told the conference that the Shirazi group (currently affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz) had in 1993 had tried to convince the then prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, on merits of creating the district but in vain.

Describing his own proposal as ‘counterproductive and unviable’, he argued that he had become politically mature enough today and could realise that interests of the inhabitants of Sindh, and not personal agendas, should get preference.

Mr Shirazi was all praise for nationalist parties and groups, saying they were rendering great services for Sindhis and their motherland.

He criticised the transfer of agricultural lands in Thatta, particularly in the Kohistan area and along the district’s coastline, to certain people, and claimed that influential political figures in connivance with local revenue officials were actually out to get the ownership of these costly lands transferred in their names.

“I was astonished to find that a Karachi tycoon had got even more than the available agricultural lands of Keti Bunder transferred in his name,” he alleged.

Mehboob Brohi, Nazir Jakhro and Aziz Sarwan were skeptical of the PPP’s sincerity in creating the district saying that a party that failed to track down even the assassins of Benazir Bhutto could not be expected to have the goodwill to provide relief to the people of Sujawal by creating the district.

Advocate Shabbir Kumbhar said he would move the court of law with a plea to stop the government from creating the district.

Younis Bhan of PPP-SB and Sujawal Shehri Ittehad chief Abdul Khaliq Mallah told the audience that upgrading Sujawal to the status of a district had great benefits for the people of the area. This would help generate employment opportunities and give the people of Sujawal an easy access to various officials for getting their routine issues resolved, they said.

They suggested that a similar conference should be convened in Sujawal in order to ascertain the will of local stakeholders.

JSM vice president Syed Nawaz Shah Bhadai said the idea of segregating Sujawal from Thatta was in fact conceived from British policy of ‘divide and rule’ and there must be a political agenda behind it. “Why did the PPP government not float the idea during its five-year-long term?” he argued.

JSM chairman Riaz Chandio, in his conclusive remarks, said that the moves like the one made by the government used to be aimed at better administration and minimise people’s problems besides ensuring prosperity. However, he observed, the situation here in Sindh was different.

He noted that the PPP had lost its credibility and trust by pursuing the so-called policy of reconciliation. He recalled that former president Asif Ali Zardari had promised legislation to ensure safeguarding of the rights and interests of Thatta coastline population before starting the execution of Zulfikarabad City project, but he did not keep his words.

Mr Chandio said that PPP government committed four ‘unpardonable crimes’ against the people of Thatta district — Zulfikarabad project; usurpation of small growers lands in the name of wind power projects; depriving the local people of their lands and villages in the name of Darawat dam; and victimising opponents by framing them in false cases during the recent general elections — which had turned the people of Sindh against PPP.

He claimed that one of the masterminds of these plans was Syed Owais Muzaffer.

He declared that the JSM and other nationalist parties would never allow the PPP to disintegrate Thatta district.

The JSM leader said that making Sujawal a district would only widen the cultural, heritage and communication gap between the peoples of Sujawal and Thatta.

He announced that a rally would be taken out on October 10 to sensitise all stakeholders of the demerits of the government plan.