HYDERABAD: Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz has announced its plan to lay siege to Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) offices in three districts to force the latter to withdraw its demand for a separate province for ‘Mohajirs’.

JSQM chairman Sanan Qureshi, speaking to journalists in Qasimabad after chairing a party meeting on Tuesday, said that the party was launching a phase-wise campaign against the MQM’s demand for a Mohajir province. In the first phase, the party would lay a siege to MQM district offices in Ghotki, Kandhkot and Shikarpur on Oct 26, 27 and 28, respectively, he added.

He said that the ‘protest siege’ would force the MQM district chapters to advise the top leadership to stop demanding division of Sindh.

Mr Qureshi said that that Urdu-speaking people were brothers of Sindhis, adding that they should dissociate themselves from the MQM. “No one in Sindh can compromise on the integrity of the province,” he argued, and declared that JSQM workers were ready to lay down their lives to safeguard Sindh’s integrity.

Announcing the next line of action, the JSQM chief said if the MQM did not withdraw its demand for a separate province, his party would take thousands of people to Karachi for a sit-in outside the party’s headquarters Nine Zero.Other JSQM leaders Amjad Mahesar, Kehar Ansari, Saghar Hanif Burdi and Abdullah Soomro were also present.

JSQM vice chairman Dr Niaz Kalani speaking to the media said that whenever the MQM talked about the rights of Sindh, his party supported it but now it was talking about division of Sindh. He said the JSQM believed that the PPP and MQM were dangerously hand in gloves on this issue.

STP backs strike call

The Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP) on Tuesday announced its support for the Qaumi Awami Tehreek (QAT) call for a province-wide strike on Thursday (October 23) against the MQM demand for a separate province.

The announcement came after a QAT delegation, led by its secretary general, Anwar Soomro, called on STP chairman Dr Qadir Magsi and discussed the issue with him.

Dr Magsi said all Sindhis stood united for the integrity of Sindh and were ready to lay down their lives for the motherland.Meanwhile, a QAT announcement issued on Tuesday said that a party delegation led by senior vice president Abdul Qadir Ranto called on Sindh United Party (SUP) president Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah and Sindh National Movement (SNM) general secretary Ghulam Mustafa Chandio to seek their support for the strike call.

It claimed that the strike call was also supported by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan, Awami Ittehad Party, Awami National Party, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2014