KARACHI, Nov 19: Pakistan Muslim League-Functional president Pir Pagara announced on Monday that a ‘black day’ would be observed across the province on Nov 30 in protest over the ‘misbehaviour and use of non-parliamentary language’ against woman lawmakers of the party by ministers belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party during a recent Sindh Assembly session.
Speaking at a press conference at his residence after a marathon meeting with heads of nationalist parties, he also announced that a public meeting would be held on Dec 14 in Hyderabad to launch a mass contact campaign against the new local government system.
Nationalist leaders Syed Jalal Mehmoud Shah, Ayaz Latif Palejo, Dr Qadir Magsi, Dr Safdar Sarki, Sanan Qureshi, PML-N leader Saleem Zia, Khalid Mehmood Soomro of the JUI-F, Bashir Jan of the Awami National Party, Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi of the National People’s Party, Jam Madad Ali and Imtiaz Shaikh of the PML-F and others also attended the meeting.
Pir Pagara said that the meeting was held on a one-point agenda to finalise the strategy for launching the mass contact drive against the new LG system.
He said that the new law was not a personal benefit issue, but the matter to protect rights of the people of Sindh.
“We will not hold any talks with the government until it (the LG law) is withdrawn,” he added.
To a question, Pir Pagara said that they did not react to the behavior of the PPP ministers against the PML-F’s woman lawmakers immediately in view of the sanctity of Moharram.
“However, we have decided to observe a black day after Moharram on Nov 30.”
He recalled that it was late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who had signed the document of the Kalabagh dam, but it failed to take off as neither Gen Zia-ul-Haq nor the Junejo government had allocated any fund for the project.
Later, again it was the PPP government led by Benazir Bhutto which had allocated funds for the project in 1989, he added.
He said that during the speeches in the assembly “we were criticised for being friends of the army and we are proud of it, as it is the army of our country.
He said that the PPP supported the Kalabagh dam project in Punjab and opposed it in Sindh.
Referring to the language used by senior Education Minister Pir Mazhar-ul- Haq in the assembly, he said: “This speaks volumes about their claim of being highly educated and the people could themselves judge with the language of the education minister about the future of the education in Sindh”.
In reply to another question, he said that it was good that after over four years, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah finally awake and had cancelled the appointment of some 5,000 teachers, who were recruited without merit.