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Nationalist leaders agree to launch joint struggle
The Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party chairman Dr Qadir Magsi (pictured above) said it was necessary to take part in general elections to reach the parliament for safeguarding the rights of Sindh. - Online/File photo
HYDERABAD: The leaders of almost all nationalist parties have agreed in principle to shun differences for the sake of greater cause and launch a joint movement for the rights of Sindh.
They were speaking at the chehlum for the Sindh United Party activist Akhtar Ali Shah in Jamshoro on Sunday. Akhtar was killed when law enforcement personnel opened fire on a demonstration on the Super Highway on June 4. The leaders reiterated their demands for provincial autonomy, expulsion of outsiders from the province and Sindh’s sovereignty over its natural resources.
The SUP chief Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah said that Sindh was passing through a difficult phase and urged all nationalist forces and conscientious people to launch a joint struggle for the rights of Sindh.
He condemned killings of nationalist activists and paid tribute to the workers of nationalist parties who had laid down their lives for the national cause. They were martyrs, he declared.
The Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz chairman Basheer Khan Qureshi said that workers of the nationalist parties were being killed for holding peaceful demonstrations for their legal and constitutional rights.
This attitude must be condemned by all, he said and added that Akhtar and others had sacrificed their lives for the motherland.
He assured that if the nationalist leaders united on one platform to launch a national movement, his party would not lag behind. He opposed creation of new provinces and said the step would not be tolerated under any circumstances.
The Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party chairman Dr Qadir Magsi stressed the need for launching a joint struggle and said it was necessary to take part in general elections to reach the parliament.
He said that it was need of the hour to reach the assemblies for safeguarding rights of Sindh. Conspiracies were being hatched to convert the indigenous population into a minority, he cautioned.
The Save Sindh Movement convener Syed Shah Mohammad Shah said that Sindh was in the grip of a serious crisis and people should forget their differences and personal sorrows to launch a joint struggle for Sindh. ‘We have had many martyrs and time has come to have Ghazis,’ he said.
The Sindh Hari Committee president Azhar Jatoi said that Sain G.M. Syed and Comrade Haider Bux Jatoi had taken practical steps for securing rights of Sindh and Sindhis and stressed that all nationalist leaders should emulate them.
The JSQM leader (of his own faction) Shafi Karnani said that nationalist forces believed in the philosophy of Sain G.M. Syed and called upon all nationalist groups to forget their differences for the sake of common cause.
The Sindh National Front general secretary Ayoub Shar held the government responsible for all atrocities being committed against people of Sindh.
JSM leader Riaz Chandio said that Sindh would never forget its martyrs who had sacrificed their lives for the national cause. All other interests must be sacrificed for the national interest, he said.
Earlier, Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, Syed Zain Shah, Dodo Maheri, Roshan Buriro and a large number of workers of the SUP paid a visit to the memorial where Akhtar Shah was killed on the Super Highway, showered rose petals and offered fateha.
DAWN: Bureau Report :Tuesday, 14 Jul, 2009
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Alliance of Sindh nationalist parties soon G.N. Mughul
KARACHI: A significant progress has been made in the efforts to form a greater alliance of all Sindh nationalist parties. In this regard, Syed Jalal Mahmmod Shah, grandson of G.M. Syed and chief of Sindh United Party (SUP) is likely to formally invite all nationalist leaders of the province at his residence G.M. Syed House, Jamshoro, to give a formal shape to the move in consultation with all nationalist leaders. This was stated by Syed Shah Mohammad Shah, chairman, Save Sindh Movement, while talking to Frontier Post on telephone on Tuesday.
He was hopeful that all nationalist forces would join together to form a common forum to launch struggle for the national issues of Sindh as well as for the "revolution" if some nationalist parties launched any move in that direction. He said, in this regard, he has held a number of one-to-one meetings with various prominent Sindhi leaders. In this regard, he particularly referred to his meeting with Mumtaz Bhutto, Chief of Sindh National Front a few days back. However, earlier, the reports say that SUP Chairman, Syed Jalal Mahmood Shah as well as Dr. Qadir Mangsi, Chairman, Sindh Taraki Pasand Party also separately have held meetings with various nationalist leaders and discussed to launch joint struggle on various issues of Sindh. In this regard, the meeting held between Dr. Mangsi and Rasul Bux Palijo, chief of Awami Tahril is particularly being given importance.
As for AT, headed by Rasul Bus Palijo, it is generally believed that Palijo will not remain aloof in case a decision to launch joint struggle for common programme chalked out in Sindh, is taken. However, as for its joining the new alliance the political observers are not sure. However, Syed Shah Mohammad Shah was optimistic that AT, headed by Palijo, would also be part of any new alliance if it is formed through joint consultations. The indications are that one of the corner stone of new Alliance/ joint struggle by Sindhi nationalists, would be a new charter on the provincial autonomy. Besides, there are enough indications to believe that the main thrust of the new alliance would be anti-PPP.
It is said that a wave of anger has been created among nationalists all over Sindh particularly after the killing of a worker of SUP and three workers of STPP in direct firing resorted to by police on peaceful rallies taken out recently in Jamshoro and Karachi respectively.
The Frontier Post:wednesday, July 15,2009
Minister hits out at nationalist leaders in Sindh
Kalabagh Dam would not be built, NFC award would be announced soon and the water issue had been taken up, said Zahid Ali Bhurgari (pictured above) adding that nationalist parties are welcome to make suggestions on Sindh’s issues. - APP/File photo
HYDERABAD: Sindh Minister for Fisheries Zahid Ali Bhurgari on Thursday hit out at nationalist parties and accused them of trying to destabilise the democratic government.
Speaking to journalists after leading a procession organised by the Sindh People’s Youth Organisation’s Hyderabad chapter, he said that the nationalist leaders could not win even a union council seat but they ‘talk of destabilising the government’.
He said that they never showed accommodation for each other under a dictatorship but they were out to hatch conspiracies once a democratic government was restored.
The PPP government had declared that Kalabagh Dam would not be built and the National Finance Commission award would be announced soon, he said.
He said that the government had taken up the water issue and it would welcome nationalist parties if they had any suggestions on Sindh’s issues, which could be deliberated upon.
SPYO president Aijaz Dhamra lambasted nationalist parties and extremist forces, accusing them of destabilising the country. Benazir Bhutto had returned to the country for people, he said.
He said that nationalist leaders who were otherwise inimical to each other were delivering speeches from the same pulpit against the PPP.
He said that the issue of displaced persons had been settled and they were now returning to their homes. The party’s youths were united to foil all conspiracies against the government, he said.
He said that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would be the next prime minister of the country. The People’s Students Federation and the SPYO would stage a big rally in August, which would start from the mausoleum of late Benazir Bhutto and terminate at the mausoleum of Quaid-i-Azam, he said.
The rally started its march from Qasimabad and concluded outside the press club.
DAWN: Friday, 17 Jul,
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JSQM ready to work with other nationalist parties
Sindh contributed Rs900bn to the federal kitty but received only Rs105bn and the mineral and water resources of the province were in addition to the revenue, said JSQM Chairman Bashir Khan Qureshi (center). - APP photo
HYDERABAD: Nationalist parties of Sindh took out a rally in protest against settlement of outsiders in the province and for Sindh’s ownership over its resources.
Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (B) chairman Bashir Khan Qureshi said his party is ready to work with other nationalist parties for the rights of the province but expects them to respect the policy of his party about ‘liberating’ Sindh.
Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party chairman Dr Qadir Magsi, Sindh United Party chairman Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, Jeay Sindh Mahaz chief Riaz Chandio, Save Sindh Movement convener Shah Mohammad Shah, Jeay Sindh Qaum Parast Party’s Qamar Bhatti and Asif Baladi also spoke on the occasion.
Qureshi praised the leaders of other nationalist parties for expressing solidarity with the JSQM and said that they were true soldiers of Sindh.
He said that late G.M. Syed had anticipated much earlier that Sindh had to be liberated from those who had deprived it of its rights.
He criticised the establishment for having usurped Sindh’s resources for 62 years in the name of Pakistan and Islam and stealing the waters of Indus. But, he said, whenever Sindh rose for its rights, the establishment brought a man wearing a Sindhi cap to pacify Sindhis and the ruling clique continued to hatch conspiracies against the province.
He accused Punjab of always violating water accords against Sindh’s interests. He said that only the 1945 water treaty was acceptable to Sindh, adding that he opposed all dams over River Indus.
‘Today Pukthoons describe Karachi as their biggest city. Sindh has been made an international orphanage by settling non-Sindhis here. These immigrants should be denied citizenship and right of vote,’ he said.
He said that Sindh contributed Rs900 billion to the federal kitty but received only Rs105 billion, adding that mineral and water resources of the province were in addition to the revenue. He said that 700,000 people would gather in Karachi on November 7 for a Sindhu Desh rally to tell United Nations that Sindhis were peace-loving people and their liberation was possible.
He said that the 1973 Constitution which rejected the identity of different nations was not prepared by a military dictator but by the Pakistan People’s Party.
Dr Qadir Magsi described the rally as a historic event and a befitting reply to intellectuals who often spoke about failure of nationalists to forge unity.
He said that the Sindhi people had responded to the call for Sindh’s rights over its resources.
He said that political activists were being gunned down in Karachi while Rangers had been given more powers. He held the MQM and feudal lords of Sindh responsible for the present state of the province.
Mr Jalal Shah said that the SUP had come up with a programme for full provincial autonomy through democratic process because people, fed up with the PPP, had started thinking in terms of independence. He said that Bashir Qureshi would not need to break Pakistan because the rulers themselves appeared to be doing it for him. ‘So I tell you (Qureshi) not to take pains for it,’ he said. He said that late Syed had declared that natural and mineral resources of the Sindhis had been usurped. He accused the PPP of having betrayed Sindh and said that served as a wake-up call for nationalists.
DAWN: Thursday, 16 Jul, 2009
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