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Qadir Magsi seeks equal rights for provinces
Both the MQM and the Awami National Party are vying for political supremacy in Sindh through resettlement of their ethnic groups, alleged Dr Qadir Magsi. - Online photo
KARACHI: Dr Abdul Qadir Magsi, chairman of the Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party, has called for restructuring the existing state system to ensure sovereign rights for every federating unit as an equal partner.
Rejecting the present federal system of governance, he said the system had failed to protect the rights of smaller federating units as it was dominated by a single unit, which was numerically larger than the three other units.
Speaking at a Meet-the-Press programme of the Karachi Press Club on Tuesday evening, the STPP chief went on to say that under this system the Sindh province, which once enjoyed an independent status, had been subjugated economically and politically.
Due to its brutal exploitation of economic resources, Dr Magsi said the Sindhi people had been forced to live in a perpetual state of poverty and ‘slavery’.
Regrettably, he said, the party which was voted to power by the Sindhi people had disrespected its mandate. Instead of protecting the rights of the Sindhis, it had compromised and surrendered their rights, he added.
Mr Magsi critcised the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for practising, what he described as ‘politics of terror.’
The STPP chief also rejected the parity idea of the MQM chief regarding power sharing in Sindh, saying that the province belonged to the Sindhi people and ‘we will oppose its colonisation’.
Elaborating, he said: ‘We accept all those as Sindhis who had settled here before 1954.’
About the internally displaced persons (IDPs), Dr Magsi suggested that they should be settled in the nearest and safest places of their province instead of in Sindh, which was already in ethnic turmoil.
He alleged that both the MQM and the Awami National Party were vying for political supremacy in Sindh through resettlement of their ethnic groups.
He said the MQM had made new ethnic settlements in Karachi such as Taisar Town. In the same way, the STPP argued that the ANP wanted resettlement of the IDPs in Karachi to counter the numerical strength of the MQM.
The STPP leader also condemned the demolition of goths, saying that under a plan efforts were being made to demolish Sindhi settlements in Karachi to turn the Sindhi people into a minority.
In reply to a question, the STPP leader said that a united parliamentary group of nationalist parties in Sindh would be established to contest the next election.
He did not agree that the movement being launched by the nationalists in Sindh would lead to the imposition of an army rule in the country.
Dr Magsi said: ‘We will continue to defend the rights of the Sindhi people whether there is an army rule or a civilian rule as we have proved it in the past.’
When asked as who was behind the recent killings in Karachi, the STPP said those who lived in Karachi must be better aware of it than a person living in Hyderabad.
Also present at the press conference were prominent STPP leaders Gulzar Soomro and Ali Hasan Chandio.
The STPP plans to take out a procession on Wednesday to protest against the settlement of the IDPs in Sindh.
DAWN:Wednesday, 10 Jun, 2009
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